Possession to put it simply is about two modern day academics who investigate a possible previously unknown love story between two well known Victorian poets. The story constantly jumps from between the modern setting to a Victorian love story and is told in the various forms of letters, poems, essays, and straightforward narrative.

Possession is certainly not what you would describe as a light read but the combination of the weaving story-lines and the detective part of the plot kept my interest and I ended up finishing this rather weighty book quicker than anticipated. The poetry I didn't really give my full attention, in fact I skimmed read them. I just didn't enjoy the poems very much, perhaps I would have gotten more out of the novel by fully reading the poems but I don't feel as though my overall enjoyment was too much affected. The love story set in the Victorian era was more convincing than the modern day one but both time-lines in their own way kept me turning the pages.

I do have one minor quibble with the novel which I feel I have to mention. Firstly the `villain' was (I felt) badly drawn. The character was an American collector who had to possess any of the Victorian poet's memorabilia and he was throughout the novel painted as a two dimensional `evil rich American'. Why not just make this character an avid rich collector? Why make him an evil, prostitute visiting, grave robbing almost cartoonist villain? I half expected him to have an evil chuckle to boot. But this is a very minor quibble; it just bothered me.

Overall though this is a novel I thoroughly enjoyed and in which I could immerse myself in. The settings are great as are in particular the Victorian characters and I would recommend this. Being quite a multi-layered novel this would benefit from a second read.

I’ve a confession to make. In 1991 a friend gave me a copy of POSSESSION by AS Byatt. I opened it, reeled at the tower blocks of poetry (some 1700 lines), squinted at the hundreds of pages of italics denoting correspondence and promptly put it on one side where it no doubt eventually found its way into a charity shop. Last month having enjoyed watching the rescreened tv documentary on AS Byatt I decided to face my demons of guilt and read it. I enjoyed every word of it. But that doesn’t stop me being critical.

Possession is a novel exploring themes of love, loss and identity. It is acted out in two plots, the first being in immediate scene and involving a race between a group of brittle though colourful academics all vying against one another to find the secret of the personal life of one RANDOLPH HENRY ASH a fictitious mid-nineteenth century poet. The second plot, sub plot – or hinted at parallel plot is historical and involves the relationship between Randolph Ash, his wife Ellen, and Ash’s lover CHRISTABEL LA MOTTE a poet – hence the mass of italics poems, fables, letters and journals. It’s no spoiler to reveal that Christabel had a child by Ash, but the main dramatic question is, just what happened to that child? The immediate scene narrative’s inciting incident occurs when ROLAND (DR) MITCHELL a research scholar, and the least egotistical and possibly the most sensitive of the contesting academics, finds two unfinished and forgotten letters from Ash to Christabel. Roland admits to himself it’s an unprofessional act but he pockets them to use as a starting point for his quest. His find! The immediate scene plot is largely in his point of view.

The style presentation of the two parallel plots is strikingly different. The historical creepily Pre Raphaelite, stacked with fables, myths and the mystical. Some of these tales have Breton connections, Christabel it appears is of Breton descent, as indeed – in the immediate scene plot – is MAUD BAILEY a strange and rangy pale-haired academic Roland soon meets as he begins his quest for the secret of the unfinished letters. Maud’s hair is described in almost alarming detail, the significance of which those who have not read, nor seen (as I have not) the 2002 film interpretation starring Gwyneth Paltrow will have to wait until the final scenes to comprehend. As I have said, I have not seen the film, though I very much doubt that it portrays the oddness of contrast between the historic – always ultra serious and full of anguish – and the immediate scene or modern 1980s narrative which Byatt manages to achieve. That is the modern plot with its parade of ostentatious and over-opinionated stereotypes: there’s Sir George, a shotgun-wielding ‘get off my land’ not-very-bright man who finds – thanks to Maud and Roland – that he is in possession of love letters exchanged between Ash and Christabel. There’s Mortimer Cropper, an American collector of Ash’s writings – who Byatt describes as resembling The Virginian – and is relentlessly pursuing purchase in order to export the documents to the US. There’s another American, the domineering and magnificently-busted professor Leonora Stern, and as litigation looms a couple of flamboyant legal types enter the narrative. The immediate scene plot at times reads like an Ealing comedy.

But to me, the strongly hinted at notion that the relationship between the 'dull' Roland and the – perhaps beautiful but somewhat abrupt and correspondingly dull Maud is echoing that of the historical Randolph Ash and Christabel La Motte seems to me presumptuous. Ealing comedy smashing up against Pre Raphaelite melodrama? Perhaps I’m totally missing the point and that is exactly what Byatt means when – as well as furnishing the reader with a record list of classical references, and legendary demonstrations of literary gymnastics – she hints that she’s being postmodern! Again, maybe I’m wrong. Tragi-comic traditionally works, but here the haunting anguish of the past sitting right next to stamping English farce seems strained to say the least. Fans may disagree, after all this is only my opinion, but Possession does not have anything like the bitter and haunting irony of John Fowles’ 1969 novel The French Lieutenant’s Woman – to which I have heard it compared. Nor – on the subject of postmodernism – does it belong to that revered list of novels which have influenced our view of the world in the way that John Fowles’ 1966 novel The Magus did.

Having said that, this novel must contain some of the best descriptive writing ever. There’s a splendidly satirical scene of a BBC television interview, and for those who happened to be in the south east of Britain in the October of 1987 and remember the great storm there’s a wonderfully atmospheric backdrop to the novel’s denouement.

STILL researching Whitby's literary heritage and I stumbled across this one which details the journeyings of a number of obsessive academics in their researches into a Victorian poet and his lover, which takes place partially in Whitby and the surrounding countryside. Now I've read a lot of dross so far, but this one was particularly apposite to my own "tiresome and bewitching endlessness quest for knowledge" (p. 7) and summarised the obsessive nature of research, of how easily distracted one is and how one pursues something relentlessly to the point that you can't even see it any more (I'm about there now). This is a very fine work of literature indeed interspersed with writings from the Victorian poets the academics are supposedly pursuing and letters as well. I enjoyed reading this book very much - not only did it encapsulate the area very well (in the sections when it was in Whitby) but it also recorded an interesting and engaging story in an enchanting way. I was slightly worried about Roland's fate at the beginning of the book - unemployed postgraduate - it's clearly where I'm heading myself but I've just got to make the most of the journey, I think. It's not a great fate but it's somehow inevitable and no doubt I'll enjoy getting there. Highly recommend this book - whether you are interested in Whitby or not.

In the 100 books to read before you die list. Took a while to get into the book. The author must be incredibly intelligent to devise such a storyline . It was good but not a must read for me

This is a masterpiece. The story is one of those where two sets of characters are acting out their relationships in different times. We have the contemporary, modern academics battling with their own relationships, histories, rivalries and ambitions, and the Victorian poets who are struggling with the needs, loves and the beliefs of their times. The chapters flit between the letters and poems of the Victorians, and the accounts of the parallel modern academics who are trying to understand an episode in the lives of their Victorian heroes. AS Byatt conjures up the characters from these different times, and provides them with a context and body of work. As the story reveals itself, we are teased by her use of language - unusual words that locate the Victorians in a place or time, that reveal their relationship before any other evidence is available. The story climaxes in a churchyard, in a gothic scene straight from a Victorian fright-tale, but based on an actual event that many readers will remember.

This is one of the best books I have read lately. The richness of its imagination, the cleverness and use of language, and the drive of the plot make this a Booker prize winner that others will struggle to equal.

Fine

I have this in hardback, kindle and audio. It is one of my favourite books. I first read it in a borrowed paperback during what was a difficult time for me. As others have commented, I did find it a difficult book to get into; however as with Shakespeare once cracked found it really absorbing. Others have remarked on the dodgy characterisasations of those not favoured by public school & Oxbridge backgrounds, that is a common failing (Iris Murdoch, Angus Wilson) in UK literary fiction. One just has to choose whether or not to go with the flow and park that to one side, Martin Amis tries to tackle the great divide and drives me round the bend. Each to their own. I loved the poetry of this novel and was completely absorbed by the modern day academic world created in parallel to that of Victorian poetry. The ending moved me greatly and I took great pleasure in the successful outcome of the romance.

I'm going to give this book five stars, but warning ... here comes a warning. Possession is really two books. One is written by a genius, who draws the reader into a Victorian landscape with poignant subtlety. The second book is set in the present day and appears to have been written by a sixth former, who turned out to be less talented than we'd hoped. Look out for endless prosaic descriptions and possibly the clumsiest use of the colour, green, ever to have made it to print.

The book IS worth reading for the poetry alone. However, I suggest you run your eyes swiftly down the modern sections on the basis that the story is not intended as a comedy. Though, if you want a laugh, count how many times characters suddenly remember that they are not from the south of England and throw in a bit of accent for a line or two.

I don’t read romances but a friend who also does not read them highly recommended this book for content, style, sheer enjoyment.

J'ai choisi cette note pour un roman qui est d'une originalité extrême, qui rend hommage à la poésie, à son pouvoir magnétique, à la beauté de sa musique, qui déploie une intrigue qui unit passé et présent, folklore, ethnologie et spiritisme, trois courants du XIXe siècle, avec les tensions académiques d'aujourd'hui, plongeant le lecteur dans deux époques contrastées, le puritanisme victorien (et la force de la transgression) et la libéralisation des mœurs aujourd'hui. Un roman que tout collectionneur doit lire, recommandé aussi aux chercheurs passionnés. Evidemment il faut être sensible à la poésie. Il est très bien écrit. L'ayant lu en anglais je ne peux rien dire sur la traduction française. Ce roman m'a fait penser à celui, remarquable, de Wilkie Collins, "The moon stone".

'A written work that is regarded as having artistic merit'. That is how my dictionary describes 'literature'. This book is a literary romance - and a novel, too.

'Possession' by A S Byatt is one of my very favourite books, which I have read perhaps five or six times. It is one of the few books that I prefer in its printed form - for visual reasons. I have recently bought and read it on my Kindle - and am glad to have it available even on my mobile phone: but I prefer my dog-eared paperback copy. It's the layout of the poetry that does it.

A few of the times I have read the whole book; some of the times I have skated over the long poems and sagas that Miss Byatt has written in the style of her Victorian hero, the eminent poet Professor Randolph Henry Ash. To me, there is no doubting the artistic merit of this double love story, which is so crafted that one is driven through with impatience, fascinated to know the final outcome(s). Shortlisted for the Booker Prize in 1990, I wondered why it had not won but my conclusion was that the judges felt that the author indulged herself by not thinning out so much apparently irrelevant but beautiful prose. As a practised reader of this romance, I now know what to leave out - and still end up by enjoying the brilliant plots and passionate love stories.

A S Byatt quotes Nathaniel Hawthorne, in the preface to his 'The House of the Seven Gables' as saying that 'When a writer calls his work a Romance, it need hardly be observbed that he wishes to claim a certain latitude, both as to its fashion and material, which he would not have felt himself entitlted to assume, had he professed to be writing a Novel. The latter form of composition is presumed to aim at a very minute fidelity, not merely to the possible, but to the probable and ordinary course of man's experience.'

The author gives me no reason to dispute her facts and I am convinced that Randolph Ash and his virginal lover both existed. Equally real are the humble academic, Roland Mitchell (who discovered the draft letters by Prof Ash that no one knew about) and the formidable Dr Maud Bailey, feminist and expert on women poets of the same period, (around the 1860s). It is definitely romantic, convincing and artistic. So, from me five stars because 'I love it!' And I conclude it's a true example of modern literature.

I read this novel many moons ago and remember enjoying it very much. Recently I read two novels which were also fascinating Ava Reid’ A theory of Dreaming and its sequel. In the afterward the author indicated she had been inspired by Possession. With that reminder, I decided to reread it. At first, I wondered why I had enjoyed it so much but by mid novel, I was once more entranced. This is one of the most beautifully written novels I have read and illuminates the power of the written word to inspire, to persuade and to reveal the truths hidden in plain sight. Loved it again.

Seller is excellent... The book is same too. Thanks intertrade india