Possession gives
the reader two love stories from different centuries: the concealed one
of two Victorian poets and the unlooked-for one of two late
20th-century literary scholars who are studying their poetry.
Modern-day Roland Mitchell, working as a research assistant at the
British Museum, comes across handwritten drafts of love
letters from 19th-century poet Randolph Henry Ash to an unknown woman
who obviously wasn't his wife. Everyone had thought Ash was faithfully
married, so revelation of an extramarital relationship would be a
bombshell — if Roland could prove it. A possibility for the
other woman is lesser-known Victorian poet Christabel LaMotte, so
Roland seeks out LaMotte expert Maud Bailey. After he overcomes Maud's
skepticism, they search in poems, old journals, and letters for
evidence that Ash and LaMotte were lovers. The long-ago love isn't the
only one the pair discover. They are falling for each other, and while
it would seem their relationship has fewer barriers than the earlier
pair's, modern-day romance has its own complications.
Possession
has elements of mysteries and thrillers, with competing scholars, who
figure out that Maud and Roland are on to something big, rushing to
beat them to conclusive evidence. But it's a very highbrow detective
story, with clues hidden in Ash's and LaMotte's poems, and literary
research methods used to unravel them. The poems were written by Byatt,
who displays formidable scholarship in this long book, which is revered
by many but is not for all. Slow moving and dense with imagery and
literary allusions, Possession,
a Booker Prizer winner, requires a patient, attentive reader.
Home
My
reviews
My
friends' reviews