Book description
The third book in the 'Children of Violence' series, a quintet of
novels tracing the life of Martha Quest from her childhood in colonial
Africa through to old age in a post-nuclear Britain. The other books are
'Martha Quest', 'A Proper Marriage', 'Landlocked' and 'The Four-Gated City'.
"The personal life of a comrade would be arranged so that it
interferes as little as possible with work," he said. Martha had
not imagined that the "personal talk" with Anton would arise
like an item on an agenda; she now felt frivolous because she had been
looking forward to something different…"
The 'Children of Violence' series, a quintet of novels tracing the life
of Martha Quest from her childhood in Africa to a post-nuclear Britain
of AD 2000, first established Doris Lessing as a major radical writer.
In this third volume, Martha, now free of her stultifying marriage to
Douglas, is able to pursue the independent life she has wanted for so
long. Her deepening involvement with South African revolutionary
politics draws her into a world of fierce commitments and passionate
idealism. A time of great change, Martha's young womanhood brings not
only immense happiness when she embarks on an affair with a fellow party
member, but also great sorrow - for the pain of abandoning Caroline, her
baby daughter, left at home with Douglas, never diminishes… 'I read
the “Children of Violence” novels and began to understand how a person
could write about the problems of the world in a compelling and
beautiful way. And it seemed to me that was the most important thing I
could ever do.' Barbara Kingsolver
'The “Children of Violence” series gives an astounding compression of a
total, coherent vision, as if Doris Lessing knew all along where it
would end.' The Times 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'.
