A Proper Marriage
The second book in the Nobel Prize for Literature winner’s ‘Children of Violence’ series tracing the life of Martha Quest from her childhood in colonial Africa to old age in post-nuclear Britain.
‘A Proper Marriage’ sees twenty-something Martha beginning to realise that her marriage has been a terrible mistake. Already the first passionate flush of matrimony has begun to fade; sensuality has become dulled by habit, blissful motherhood now seems no more than a tiresome chore. Caught up in a maelstrom of a world war she can no longer ignore, Martha’s political consciousness begins to dawn, and, seizing independence for the first time, she chooses to make her life her own.
”'Few writers spring such surprises as Doris Lessing. She trusts her own feelings absolutely, and has the rare power of putting feelings straight onto the page, more directly perhaps than any other writer, so directly that the effect is sometimes like a physical blow.” - Independent
”'A writer of real importance, Doris Lessing knows where to start and where to stop, knowledge which most writers take a lifetime to acquire.” - Spectator
”'The 'Children of Violence' series gives an astounding compression of a total, coherent vision, as if Doris Lessing knew all along where it would end.” - The Times
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