Tuesday, January 01, 2002

Possession by A. S. Byatt was a Booker Prize winning novel in 1990.

I remember reading this when Iived in Houston for our staff Library reading program in which we had to read an award book for adults. But I no memory of what it was about. So I decided to re-read it and found it on tape. So I've been enjoying it read to me. What a joy.

Roland is an academic researcher who discovers some important letters written by a famous Victorian poet, Randolph Henry Ash. Ash was presumed to have been totally devoted to his wife, but Roland finds letters written to another unnamed woman, and soon determines that the intended recipient was another, less well-known poet, Christabel LaMotte. Roland contacts Maud, an expert on LaMotte's life and work. Despite her skepticism, the two begin to investigate, and uncover a wealth of information about the affair between the two poets. But now there are others who know about it and the race is on to see who can discover the truth about this long over affair between two poets. And how will it affect each one.