An Experiment in Love
An Experiment in Love by Hilary Mantel is a thought-provoking novel published by Penguin in 1996, featuring 250 pages in English. The story follows Carmel McBain as she navigates her university life in London, reflecting on her childhood and her complicated relationship with her schoolmate Karina. Set against the backdrop of the late 1960s, the narrative explores the aspirations and fears of a generation of young women grappling with societal expectations and the evolving landscape of feminism.
Readers will find a rich exploration of themes such as gender dynamics and class struggles, as Carmel and her peers confront new realities involving sex, politics, and personal identity. The novel interweaves Carmel’s present experiences with her past, offering insights into the pressures faced by women during a transformative period in England. Mantel’s work provides a nuanced perspective on the challenges of balancing ambition with societal norms, making it a significant contribution to literary fiction.
Official synopsis Publisher
A “New York Times Book Review” Notable Book of the Year
It was the year after Chappaquiddick, and all spring Carmel McBain had watery dreams about the disaster. Now she, Karina, and Julianne were escaping the dreary English countryside for a London University hall of residence. Interspersing accounts of her current position as a university student with recollections of her childhood and an ever difficult relationship with her longtime schoolmate Karina, Carmel reflects on a generation of girls desiring the power of men, but fearful of abandoning what is expected and proper. When these bright but confused young women land in late 1960s London, they are confronted with a slew of new preoccupations–sex, politics, food, and fertility–and a pointless grotesque tragedy of their own.
Hilary Mantel’s magnificent novel examines the pressures on women during the early days of contemporary feminism to excel–but not be “too” successful–in England’s complex hierarchy of class and status.
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