Landlocked (Flamingo Modern Classics) [Paperback]

Doris Lessing (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 26, 1990 | Series: Flamingo Modern Classics

The fourth book in the "Children of Violence" series, a quintet of novels tracing the life of Martha Quest from her childhood in colonial Africa through to old age in a post-nuclear Britain. The others are "Martha Quest", "A Proper Marriage", "A Ripple from the Storm" and "The Four-Gated City".

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Imaginatively conceived...Lessing is a shrewd, dispassionate observer of contemporary history." -- -- New Republic

"She is not the only best woman novelist we have but one of the most serious and intelligent and honest writers of the whole post-war generation." -- Sunday Times (London)

"This work will rank with the foremost fictional commentaries on events in our century." -- -- Milwaukee Journal

"A woman has slipped into the uneasy circle of England's Angry Young Men. No charter member of the clubnot even Osborne or Amiscan have mush to teach author Doris Lessing." -- Time

"Doris Lessing is the Cassandra of the documentary novel...crying for something harshly denied to our age: a longing for magic, for the irrational. Her concern for life, her independence of judgment and her gift for diagnosing our hydra-headed social ills is extraordinary." -- Observer

"I read the Children of Violence novels and began to understand how a person could write the problems of the world in a compelling and beautiful way. And it seemed to me that was the most important thing I could ever do." -- Barbara Kingsolver

"Imaginatively conceived...Lessing is a shrewd, dispassionate observer of contemporary history." -- New Republic

"This work will rank with the foremost fictional commentaries on events in our century." -- Milwaukee Journal --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

About the Author

Doris Lessing is one of the most important writers of the twentieth century and was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature 2007. Her first novel, "The Grass is Singing", was published in 1950. Among her other celebrated novels are "The Golden Notebook", "The Summer Before the Dark" and "Memoirs of a Survivor". She has also published two volumes of her autobiography, "Under my Skin" and "Walking in the Shade". Her most recent novel is "The Cleft".

Product Details

• Paperback: 352 pages
• Publisher: Paladin (July 26, 1990)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0586090010
• ISBN-13: 978-0586090015
• Product Dimensions: 7.7 x 5 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.5 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Landlocked by Doris Lessing, February 10, 2010

By 

scott89119 "scott89119" (Whittier, CA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Landlocked (The Children of Violence, Book 4) (Paperback)

This entry in the Children of Violence series has Martha fed up with her life in Africa and desiring an escape to England. As she is "Landlocked," she cannot get true independence and is left with friends she is growing distant from and a Communist ideology she is becoming disenchanted with. She spends the majority of the book feeling mentally and spiritually stifled and taking up with various lovers. It is an enjoyable book, just as solid as A Proper Marriage but nothing akin to the masterpiece The Four Gated City. However it sets Martha up well for that final novel, and makes her later transformation believable. It also gives the reader a very stark view of life in WWII South Africa, an area too remote for warfare but always full of the sadness of the time. The Children of Violence novels are a great achievement and should be enjoyed in their entirety, so although this is one of Lessing's less well-known works it would benefit any fan to read it.