The Seven Sisters - Tapa dura

Wilton arrives alone in London, recently betrayed, divorced, and rejected, she wonders what more can happen, at her age, to change her life. And yet, as she climbs the dingy communal staircase with her suitcases, she feels both nervous and exhilarated. Candida confides the details of her progress to a diary that slowly takes on a strong persona of its own, as it often scathingly comments on the trappings of modern life, and uncovers the layers of her past and present life. And when Candida receives a sudden windfall, she takes a group of six friends, women who in one way or another find themselves straddling generations, on a trip she has long dreamed of to Tunis, Naples, and Pompeii, with surprising results. Lively, beautifully rendered, rich in literary allusions and psychological insight, The Seven Sisters is a splendid, broadly appealing novel about starting over.

Margaret Drabble was born in Sheffield, England, in 1939, and studied English at Cambridge University. Her novels include The Radiant Way, A Natural Curiosity, The Gates of Ivory, The Witch of Exmoor, The Peppered Moth, and, most recently, The Seven Sisters. Among her non-fiction works are Arnold Bennett: A Biography, A Writer's Britain, and Angus Wilson: A Biography. She is also the editor of The Oxford Companion to English Literature.

Margaret Drabble has three children and is married to the biographer Michael Holroyd. She lives in London, England.
From the Trade Paperback edition.