A. S Byatt

A.S. Byatt is noted for her ability to weave richly detailed stories. But in Possession she has created a stunning tour-de-force. It is mesmerizing literary mystery filled with poetry and passion. Roland Mitchell, a young academic assistant, has devoted his life to studying the life and works of 19th century writer Randolph Henry Ash. One day in the university library, Roland opens a dusty volume and finds a provocative letter written by Ash to an...

Frederica falls almost by accident into a career in television in London, while tumultuous events in her home county of Yorkshire threaten to split her world. In the late 1960s, the languages of religion, myth, and fairytale overlap with the terms of science and the new computer age. The meaning of love itself seems to vanish and people flounder, often comically, while searching for their true sexual, intellectual, and emotional identities.

Roland Mitchell has devoted his life to studying the life and works of 19th-century writer Randolph Henry Ash. When Roland discovers a provocative letter to an unnamed woman, he begins a quest for information. Along with fellow academician Maud Bailey, Roland discovers an unconventional love story that echoes through their own modern lives.

After her husband becomes violent, Frederica Potter flees with her young son to London. There, she secures a teaching position in an art school and finds herself surrounded by painters and poets with dreams of rebellion. Then Frederica meets Jude Mason, the strange and charismatic author of a wildly controversial novel. When her husband files for divorce and Jude becomes the target of a high-profile court case, Frederica's life threatens to spiral...

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,...