Customer Ratings:

• EXCELLENT.. I read this book for the first time when I was eighteen and it seemed to speak to me when I was also a young girl.
  The insecurity which young people suffer and the concomitant lack of confidence is all there in Sarah and it is exacerbated by the beauty and brilliance of her cool, confident sister, Louise.
  They seem to have little in common and as Sarah goes to her sister s wedding, she feels the difference between them acutely.
  But after a short time, she becomes aware that all is not how she imagined it and she is able to feel the difference between what she imagined to be Louise s perfect life and the reality.
  Margaret Drabble has been able to portray a rivalry but also a love between the two girls brilliantly.
  Whether this is based on her feelings for her sister, A S Byatt or not, is not relevant to the story but she certainly has achieved a strong sense of character and her descriptions of people in this her first novel, are superb.
  Buy this and read it first before you read any of Drabble s other, also excellent books.
• Beautifully written, witty, entertaining. Bright, attractive Sarah has recently graduated from Oxford and is flat-sharing in London, wondering what to do next. She has always felt inferior to her stunning, enigmatic sister Louise, who has just married a wealthy, unlikeable writer. But her fascination and dislike for Louise changes shape as she finds out what lies under the exquisite surface. This is Margaret Drabble s gorgeous first novel, a witty, spirited read - lots of fast, intellectual conversation & interesting social observation. I found myself stopping every few pages, literally breathless with admiration. Buy it!

• The Millstone
• The Sea Lady
• A Natural Curiosity
• The Garrick Year
• Keeping the World Away