The Dark Flood Rises

I am ashamed to say that this is the first Margaret Drabble I have ever read but I can assure you it won’t be the last.

The book explores old age, death and dying. This may not sound like the most promising subject matter for a good read, but you will have to trust me when I say that that is exactly what it is. There is no real plot as such, rather it meanders along following the everyday lives of the various characters who are mainly (but not exclusively) elderly. There are a number of very ordinary people as well as some intriguing eccentrics who add colour and flamboyancy. This is certainly not a conventional philosophy book but it does reveal a diverse range of attitudes as the characters contemplate their current lives and their hopes and fears for the future.

I was drawn in from the very start by both the style of the writing and the content. The language just flowed which made it very easy to read and the subject matter was both accessible and perceptive. Margaret Drabble really is a very talented author and I will certainly be reading more of hers if this book is indicative of her writing style. I sincerely hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

Margaret Drabble captures joys and pain, laughs and tears as we travel towards death. Her characters are finely drawn she captures some of those minute details which pass most of us by. An enjoyable read that will help many to face death wth head held high.

A highly recommended and absorbing read by a truly fine writer. Although the novel is about the trials of growing old and its problems it is not morbid or depressing but strangely uplifting, moving, thought provoking and witty.