Throwback Thursday - Obsession with Possession by A. S. Byatt

“Throwback Thursday” seems like the perfect time to advocate for reading older books that readers may have missed somehow and also the perfect motivation for getting back to writing about books.

My first pick for “Throwback Thursday” goes way “back in the day” to 1990 – Possession by A. S. Byatt. Byatt’s Booker Prize winning novel is the perfect mix of literary fiction and a literary mystery plot. Roland Michell uncovers two letters while doing research in London for his doctoral dissertation on the Victorian poet Randolph Henry Ash (who is loosely based on Robert Browning). The letters lead him to believe Ash is linked with Christabel LaMotte, also a Victorian poet. Roland meets Dr. Maud Bailey, a LaMotte scholar, and together they investigate the mysterious connection between the poets. Their collaboration leads to love for Roland and Maud and also to the solution of the mystery of Ash and LaMotte after following the clues left behind by the poets. The story alternates between Roland and Maud in the present and Ash and LaMotte in the past, but Byatt is a skillful navigator, her writing beautifully blending the two time periods.

Possession has it all – a literary mystery, a passionate love affair, Victorian period detail and Byatt’s incredibly accomplished writing and plotting. And, yes, the book is better than the 2002 movie, despite the eye candy of stars Aaron Eckhart and Gwyneth Paltrow and the gorgeous settings of the film.

(I am reading The Miniaturist by Jessie Burton. What are you reading?)