A Summer Bird-cage (Plume) [Mass Market Paperback]

Margaret Drabble (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 1, 1985 | Series: Plume

Two sisters: beautiful, sophisticated Louise and attractive, witty and intelligent Sarah who has always felt left behind. Then Louise marries the wealthy but unappealing novelist Stephen Halifax, and Sarah, recently graduated from Oxford, is thrown back into family affairs. As Louise enters a high-profile world of glamour, parties and gossip columns, Sarah, drifting in London with her degree and new-found freedom, is only allowed glimpses into this new alien life. However, as the cracks begin to show in Louise's marriage and rumours of infidelity spread, Sarah discovers that, beneath her cool exterior, her sister is not quite the person she thought she was.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Margaret Drabble was born in Sheffield, Yorkshire in 1939, and is the younger sister of A.S. Byatt. Margaret's novel THE MILLSTONE won the John Llewelyn Rhys Prize and she was granted a Society of Author's Travelling Fellowship in the mid-1960's. She received the James Tait Black and the E.M. Forster awards, and was awarded the CBE in 1980. She has three children and lives in London with her second husband, biographer Michael Holroyd. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback
• Publisher: Plume (October 1, 1985)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0452264723
• ISBN-13: 978-0452264724
• Product Dimensions: 7.9 x 5.3 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #6,373,741 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

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars An evocative voice from the sixties, November 7, 2002

By 

"nicola_webb" (Tokyo) - See all my reviews

This review is from: A Summer Bird-cage (Mass Market Paperback)

Sarah had come home from Paris to be a bridesmaid for her sister Louise. When they were young Sarah adored her sister, but her sister never seemed to be the least bit interested in her. The novel traces a year in their lives through Sarah's eyes. It is a book about growing up, learning about different kinds of people and most of all its about the institution of marriage as viewed by Sarah through Louise's marriage.

Although this book has been around for 40 years it is still fresh and relevant today. People have always hidden who they are and what their true motives are.

I have never read a Margaret Drabble book before, but I will definitely read more in future. I love her prose and her acute observations of people. Well worth a read!