The Maid in the Garden is the first novel in the Frederica Quartet, arguably the crowning achievement of Dame Antonia Susan Byatt, OBE. The tetralogy was written over a quarter-century, and its plot also spans a quarter-century, with the first two novels published before the Booker Prize-winning international bestseller Possession, and the third and fourth after. In The Maid in the Garden, modern comedy of manners and Elizabethan drama intersect and resonate unpredictably, and life imitates art. The Yorkshire Potter family is preparing to celebrate the coronation of the new monarch, Elizabeth II, along with the rest of the empire. But the younger generation has its own concerns: Stephanie, tired of her father's authoritarianism, is preparing to marry the local priest; mathematical prodigy Marcus is haunted by disturbing visions; And for Frederica, desperate to immerse herself in the big world, a passion for a young playwright could be her ticket to freedom...
'The Maiden in the Garden' is a modern epic akin to a skillfully woven, rich carpet. Byatt's characters ask the central questions of their time. Their voices sound sincere, sometimes faltering, sometimes achieving astonishing beauty' (Entertainment Weekly).
For the first time in Russian.