With an Introduction by the author that describes the novel's origins and its twenty-year gestation, this Modern Library edition is a handsome keepsake for fans of Possession-new and old alike. Interwoven in a mesmerizing pastiche are love letters and fairytales, extracts from biographies and scholarly accounts, creating a sensuous and utterly delightful novel of ideas and passions. Its prankish verve monstrous richness of detail a one-woman variety show of literary styles and types.' The novel traces a pair of young academics-Roland Michell and Maud Bailey-as they uncover a clandestine love affair between two long-dead Victorian poets. The New Yorker dubbed it 'more fun to read than The Name of the Rose. On the nature of possession-the lover by the beloved, the biographer by his subject-she is profound,' said The Sunday Times (London). 'On academic rivalry and obsession, Byatt is delicious. Possession, for which Byatt won England's prestigious Booker Prize, was praised by critics on both sides of the Atlantic when it was first published in 1990. Time magazine calls her 'a novelist of dazzling inventiveness.' Byatt writes some of the most engaging and skillful novels of our time. GradeSaver, 8 February 2023 Web.Synopsis: Hailed by The New York Times Book Review as 'a gifted observer, able to discern the exact details that bring whole worlds into being' and 'a storyteller who could keep a sultan on the edge of his throne for a thousand and one nights,' A. Next Section Possession Summary Buy Study Guide How To Cite in MLA Format GradeSaver 'Possession Study Guide'. The film version made a number of significant changes (for example, Roland's character is portrayed as American, not English) and was generally less well-received than the novel. The film adaptation starred Gwyneth Paltrow as Maud Bailey, Aaron Eckhart as Roland Michell, and Jeremy Northam and Jennifer Ehle as Randolph Henry Ash and Christabel LaMotte. The novel was adapted into a feature film in 2002. It won the 1990 Booker prize, and in 2005, it was featured on Time's list of 100 Best Novels from 1923 to 2005.

Possession received very positive reviews in publications such as The New York Times and The Guardian and quickly became a bestseller. Byatt has stated that her inspiration for this type of historical fiction includes texts like John Fowle's 1969 novel The French Lieutenant's Woman.

It also broadens ideas of how historical fiction can function by combining episodes from the past with episodes from the present day, and featuring characters who themselves are trying to explore and understand the past. The novel is inspired by Byatt's interest in Victorian literature, and her own work as an academic researcher and lecturer. Woven though all of the colorful prose, rich literary allusion, and potent sensuality of Possession are portrayals of several love relationships, but the interaction between Byatts male and female protagonists, Roland Michell and Maud Bailey, seems to be the ideal when compared to the other male-female relationships she depicts.

Possession was published in 1990 it is Byatt's fifth novel, and widely considered to be her most successful.

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