Book description
A hugely significant political novel for the late twentieth-century
from one of the outstanding writers of the modern era and Winner of the
Nobel Prize for Fiction 2007.
In a London squat a band of bourgeois revolutionaries are united by a
loathing of the waste and cruelty they see around them. These
maladjusted malcontents try desperately to become involved in terrorist
activities far beyond their level of competence. Only Alice seems
capable of organising anything. Motherly, practical and determined, she
is also easily exploited by the group and ideal fodder for a more
dangerous and potent cause. Eventually their naïve radical fantasies
turn into a chaos of real destruction, but the aftermath is not as
exciting as they had hoped. Nonetheless, while they may not have changed
the world, their lives will never be the same again… 'In “The Good
Terrorist” we are in the world of the subsidized sub-culture of the
Marxist groupuscules of contemporary Britain…Lessing has a wit, an
indignation and a narrative agility which leave few left-wing sacred
cows unscathed…hugely enjoyable.' Sunday Times
'Doris Lessing writes about the parts other novelists cannot reach.
This is a totally absorbing, subtly observed, complicated and
stimulating novel.' Observer
'“The Good Terrorist” is a work of acute intelligence, incisive and
compelling…it shows Doris Lessing at her mature best.' Listener
Praise for Doris Lessing:
'Doris Lessing has changed the way we think about the world.' Blake Morrison
'Thank goodness for Doris Lessing. While the rest of us flounder about
noisily in the muddy waters of life, she never fails to expose with
startling clarity the essential folly of our dreams and good
intentions.' Kate Chisholm, Evening Standard
'She's up there in the pantheon with Balzac and George Eliot. We're
lucky she's still writing.' Lisa Appignanesi, Independent Doris
Lessing was the winner of the 2007 Nobel Prize for Literature and is one
of the most important writers of the second half of the twentieth
century. Her first novel, 'The Grass is Singing' was published in 1950,
and since then her international reputation has flourished. Among her
other celebrated novels are 'The Golden Notebook', 'The Summer Before
the Dark', and 'Memoirs of a Survivor'. Her most recent works include
two volumes of autobiography, 'Under my Skin' and 'Walking in the
Shade', her most recent novel is 'The Cleft'.
