The Tower of Babel

«The Tower of Babel» — this is the third novel of «The Frederica Quartet», which is considered perhaps the main work of the lady of the Order of the British Empire, Antonia Susan Byatt. The tetralogy was written over a quarter of a century, and its plot also spans a quarter of a century, with the first two novels («The Lady in the Garden», «The Living Consort») published before the Booker Prize-winning international bestseller «Possession», while the third and fourth came out afterwards.

So, Frederica Potter — a former Yorkshire schoolgirl and Cambridge graduate, now the wife of a Herefordshire squire — escapes with her young son from her tyrant husband from his estate, Brant House, and finds herself in 1960s London, which is about to transform into the psychedelic «Swinging London». She is surrounded by rebellious artists, writers, and poets there. The story of a single mother earning a living by teaching at an art school and literary criticism intertwines with chapters of the «novel within a novel» titled «The Tower of Balabon» and the transcripts of two court cases — one over this book, accused of offending public morality, and the other regarding Frederica's divorce petition.

«Byatt resurrects the legendary decade in abundant and impeccably accurate fullness. Someday historians will be grateful to Lady Antonia for such generosity, while readers can already express their gratitude now» (Boston Review).
For the first time in Russian!