La protagonista de esta novela, ambientada en Londres en la década de 1960, es una joven brillante que prepara su doctorado sobre el soneto isabelino. Y que se queda embarazada del hombre con quien tiene relaciones sexuales por primera y única vez.
Tras las primeras dudas, decide seguir adelante con el embarazo y dar a luz, sola, sin pareja, sin decirle nada al padre de la criatura.

A realistic and very English coming of age story of a middle class, intellectual woman just down from Cambridge.
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It's 1960s London, and Rosamund, a young intellectual just beginning to make her mark in academia, loses her virginity and gets pregnant in one fell swoop. There's a few places Drabble could have gone with this story, and most interestingly she approaches it from the perspective of an intelligent, independent young woman who is damned if she's going to allow societal expectations to make a social pariah out of either her or her baby. Equally, she challenges the notion of needing a husband to raise a child, determined that it will be well within her grasp to financially support the two of them by herself.

I really enjoyed Drabble's writing. It reminded me of a bit of a mix of Anita Brookner and Barbara Pym - Brookner's type of setting and prose with Pym's wit, although with a little more spunk and modernity (for it's time) to the humour.

4 stars - a great start to the world of Drabble. ( )

That tagline Rosamund is clever, very independent - and pregnant, whilst accurate as a pitch of the book, turns out to be quite reductive. Rosamund is all those things but as a reader privy to her ongoing internal monologue as well as her external interactions, - in particular her preoccupation of appearing independent, and presenting her personality as she expects others to see her, - we uncover a character that we not only can root for but also relate to.

The light-hearted, flippant style (which seems common in post-war female English writers) of the first half belied the emotional depth and maturity that the book ended on, reflective of Rosamund's own personal growth. The last time I was tricked by such an emotional about-face was The Pumpkin Eater by Penelope Mortimer where I was rendered into a silently weepy mess on a plane. But unlike Mortimer's claustrophobic portrayal of what womanhood and motherhood entails, Drabble allows for a portrayal that was most freeing combined with a lot of wishful-thinking while just remaining on this side of realistic.

Things do go much smoother for Rosamund than imaginably possible, with consequences minimum, and support a-plenty. Some might complain about the unlikeliness of such convenient resolutions to all possible conflicts and the privileges afforded to Rosamund as an educated daughter of well-off parents, but I for one am just glad to have a non-tragic pregnant-and-unmarried-in-the-1960s story. ( )

This was my first novel by Margaret Drabble, and I realize I have been missing out! Set in 1960s London, a young, well educated, and very independent woman becomes pregnant and comes to terms with her life and herself through her deep and surprised love for her child. Well written and a pleasure to read. ( )