Radiant Way [Paperback]

Margaret Drabble (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 3, 1998

Twenty five years ago Liz, Alix and Esther were leading lights at Cambridge. Now they meet as old friends at a glittering New Year's Eve party to welcome in the 1980s. It is the dawn of the Thatcher era, and Britain is on the brink of great social and political upheaval. How will these three ambitious and confident middle-aged women survive the personal and professional challenges, and the changing values of the next decade? The Radiant Way brilliantly explores their loves, losses, hopes and fears, and the strength of their friendship.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

One cannot read Drabble (The Ice Age) without being aware of the culture in which she writes; her novels are as much social and political commentary as they are acute character studies. This latest work gives us another grim picture of Britain in the '80s, a country still preoccupied with class divisions, increasingly torn by labor strife, being sucked into the chaos of random violence. The ironic title comes from a children's reading primer, which pictures a world proceeding in rational, peaceful, cooperative fashion; it is also the title of a TV documentary made by Charles Headleand, the husband of one of the three protagonists, all of whom met at Cambridge in the '50s. Liz Headleand is a Harley Street psychotherapist and mother of a large family; Alix Bowen teaches "the poor, the dull and the subnormal" in government sponsored programs; Esther Breuer is an art scholar who has pared her life to minimal terms. Among them these women experience divorce, the death of a parent and of a lover, the loss of a job and a resulting sense of dislocation, an intimation of vulnerability as a ghastly murder affects their lives. In the course of the five-year span of the novel, each comes to terms with her own nature, and with her future. As exemplars of female roles in modern culture and as reflectors of the forces fragmenting British society, Drabble's characters sometimes sound like spokespersons for her pessimistic philosophy, and there are sections of the novel where pure exposition weakens the narrative tension. On the whole, however, this is one of the best of Drabble's books, immersing the reader in a credible, relevant world.
Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

Drabble's major new novel, her first in seven years, charts the fortunes of three women who meet at Cambridge in the 1950s. Liz becomes a successful psychotherapist, Alix a teacher of literature in a women's prison, and Esther an art historian specializing in the Italian Renaissance. Their stories unfold against the sweep of post-war England, a period of decline, disillusionment, and radical social change. As the novel progresses, we delve more deeply into each woman's past, discovering how their lives intersect and how their relatively privileged status contrasts with that of people living on the fringe: a disturbed young girl, even a serial murderer. The title itself (taken from a childhood reading primer) becomes an ironic commentary on lost ideals. A long, satisfying book, full of characters, full of talking, full of ideas. Laurence Hull, Cannon Memorial Lib., Concord, N.C.
Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 400 pages
• Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd (January 3, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0140101683
• ISBN-13: 978-0140101683
• Product Dimensions: 7.6 x 5 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,624,334 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Margaret Drabble is the author of The Sea Lady, The Seven Sisters, The Peppered Moth, and The Needle's Eye, among other novels. She has written biographies of Arnold Bennett and Angus Wilson, and she is the editor of the fifth and sixth editions of The Oxford Companion to English Literature. For her contributions to contemporary English literature, she was made a Dame of the British Empire in 2008.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Life, a documentary., August 2, 2004

By 

Ladyce West "Ladyce West" (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Radiant Way (Mass Market Paperback)

This was my second Margaret Drabble, and I liked it even more than the other one [Millstone], I would have thought this a difficult feat, just a week ago. But here it is, this is a great book.

The story line is so simple it is ridiculously difficult to define. Drabble just shows us the lives of three friends who meet regularly and grow into maturity, together--in their separate ways. When we meet them it is the end of the 1970s decade. They had been friends for 25 years and know each other well. When we leave them, five years later, just like life itself, nothing is clearly resolved in their lives, they have gained some self knowledge, but not much, they have gone on living. No dramatic gestures or operatic drama. Each has made changes and moved on to new realities, never however betraying her own integrity. Liz Headland, a psychoterapist, through events she cannot control, eventually comes to understand more about about human relations than her training could have done. Alix Bowen, naive and politically engaged, wearer of her social conscience and responsibility on her sleeve, wises up when she realizes the dead-endedness of fighting alone for a better and just world, when the forces of the establishment have no interest in change. And Esther Breuer, a romantic spirit, an academic and a WWII refugee, a woman who always felt herself an outsider, realizes that she built a belljar around herself through the studying of art, to the point of distancing herself from the men who engage her.

In the background is life of the early 1980s in England. Riots, labor problems, murders, class stigmatization, and all the other nuances of England under Thatcher.

The book is very funny, very biting and understated. It is open ended, just as life is. And we all feel sorry that we will not follow these friends for another 10 years, but we are reassured of their wellness, and their ability to handle the future.

This book is a jewel and a great portrait of a time and a generation. FIVE STARS!!!

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Radiant Indeed, April 28, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: The Radiant Way (Hardcover)

In her own inimitable SHIMMERING style, Margaret Drabble's Radiant Way, is radiant indeed. The novel opens with a grand New Year's party, and Drabble is one of the best at rendering the ebb and flow, highs and lows, of a party. You will not get bogged down in a confusion of characters because this author knows how to deftly create individuals swirling within group chaos. Social groups, whether they be society at large or a few close friends, are Drabble's forte. The reader is immersed in the ever-changing world of three women who share a life-long friendship. Join them as they make their way down the path of the radiant way.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars The Rather Dull Way, January 27, 2009

By 

Stephen Schwartz (Ithaca, NY USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Radiant Way (Paperback)

I didn't finish this book. I found it too dull even though I generally like Drabble's novels (The Sea Lady is the best IMO). The Radiant Way starts on New Year's Eve 1979 which was also a crucial time in my life, so I thought I would be interested. Drabble flings a wide net and takes in many aspects of life in England in the 1980s, following the careers and lives of several families from different levels of society. Drabble is not, however, able effectively and engagingly to handle this large scope. The half or so of The Radiant Way that I read drifted and lagged confusedly. I rarely don't finish a book I've started. (Alas, I agree with Ropa's terse review.)

One minor thing that bothered me is that Drabble uses lots of sentence fragments. Fragments occur on almost every page. Often several on a page. (Like that.) This is a cheesy stylistic trope, which Drabble is drastically overusing.

I would recommend this novel only if you are very interested in the lives and loves of mostly middle-class and upper-middle-class Britons in the 1980s and the social milieu in Britain during that era.