Booker Prize Winner
Possession
by A. S. Byatt
Summary
Two contemporary academics, drawn together by a stray letter, begin to suspect that two great Victorian poets shared a secret love affair that complicates everything written about them. Byatt embeds invented poems, journals and letters within the modern narrative, weaving a literary mystery that is also a serious meditation on scholarship, biography and desire. Its blend of pastiche and emotional seriousness helped revive interest in nineteenth-century-inflected fiction.
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Historical Context & Significance
The novel is credited with revitalizing the 'Neo-Victorian' genre and became a global bestseller.