May I have a word about… my linguistic debt to Margaret Drabble
Jonathan Bouquet
Wearing her reviewer’s hat, she has introduced me to a new author and two new words. Chapeau!
June 2022
Shock ending: how the Costa book awards changed reading – and pitted husband against wife
After 50 years, the prize has been scrapped. How did it change Britain’s literary landscape? And what happened at the awards when Margaret Drabble was seated next to Theresa May?
February 2022
The Guardian view on Jack Reacher: enduring appeal
Editorial: A new TV series shows the laconic hero dispatch the bad guys with balletic ease. If only real life were like that
October 2021
From the royals to the Roys, why do siblings fall out so seriously?
It can be the most toxic of family relationships, as told in Shakespeare or Succession. What really lies at the heart of this age-old struggle
September 2020
As Diana Rigg's understudy, I never tired of watching her – she was splendid
Margaret Drabble
At the Royal Shakespeare Company, the star’s comic timing was faultless – and her conversation was racy and rich
June 2020
Lockdown life in your 20s and 80s by Megan Nolan and Margaret Drabble
Moving back in with parents, drinking too much, the loneliness of Zoom calls and feelings of detachment ... two writers in very different stages of life reflect on their circumstances
May 2020
In brief: Writers & Lovers; Flash Crash; The Pattern in the Carpet – review
A young writer struggles with love, student loans and grief – and Margaret Drabble’s story of depression and jigsaws
April 2020
Books that made me
Sally Rooney: 'I want the next thing I do to be the best thing I’ve ever done'
The Normal People author on the joy of Jeeves and the influence of JD Salinger’s Franny and Zooey
February 2020
Further reading
Love, lifelines and Larkin: the best books to make you feel less alone
From John Williams’s Stoner to Margaret Drabble’s The Millstone, literary worlds offer a vital spark of human connection
June 2019
The Ladies’ Pond: three writers dive in
Hampstead Heath’s swimming pond for women is a much-loved institution and source of inspiration. Deborah Moggach, So Mayer and Margaret Drabble explain what it means to them
April 2019
Philip Pullman leads call for UK government action on ebook piracy
Pullman calls piracy ‘an offence against moral justice’ as authors including Kazuo Ishiguro and Margaret Drabble issue warning to business secretary Greg Clark
Margaret Drabble's Jerusalem the Golden isn't a 'Hampstead novel'
Her books have been derided as cliched tales of monied adultery, and as retreads of northerners’ escapes south – but Jerusalem the Golden is richer and stranger than that
Reading group
Jerusalem the Golden's less than shining start with critics
Margaret Drabble’s early novel received some very lukewarm reviews, which scolded it for perceived weaknesses that seem much less apparent 50 years on
Reading group
A London flat and no job: Margaret Drabble shows the Golden age of student life
Jerusalem the Golden’s heroine Clara must balance the demands of family with the opportunities of education. But those dilemmas have grown tougher since 1967
September 2017
Reading group
Reading group: Jerusalem the Golden by Margaret Drabble is October's book
It did not win as many headlines as her debut, but this novel casts compelling light on women’s lives in 1960s Britain
April 2017
Rebecca Swift obituary
The pioneering founder of a literary consultancy dedicated to helping aspiring writers
February 2017
Brief letters
Model citizens when it comes to units of measurement
Brief letters: Railway tickets | Vegetable crisis | Modellers | Weetabix and Margaret Drabble
