Product Description

Of all John Fowles' novels The French Lieutenant's Woman received the most universal acclaim and today holds a very special place in the canon of post-war English literature. From the god-like stance of the nineteenth-century novelist that he both assumes and gently mocks, to the last detail of dress, idiom and manners, his book is an immaculate recreation of Victorian England. Not only is it the epic love story of two people of insight and imagination seeking escape from the cant and tyranny of their age, The French Lieutenant's Woman is also a brilliantly sustained allegory of the decline of the twentieth-century passion for freedom.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1681 in Books
• Published on: 2004-11-04
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 448 pages

Observer
'A remarkable performance-As gripping as The Collector and The Magus'

Synopsis
Of all John Fowles' novels The French Lieutenant's Woman received the most universal acclaim and today holds a very special place in the canon of post-war English literature. From the god-like stance of the nineteenth-century novelist that he both assumes and gently mocks, to the last detail of dress, idiom and manners, his book is an immaculate recreation of Victorian England. Not only is it the epic love story of two people of insight and imagination seeking escape from the cant and tyranny of their age, The French Lieutenant's Woman is also a brilliantly sustained allegory of the decline of the twentieth-century passion for freedom.

About the Author
John Fowles was born in England in 1926 and educated at Bedford School and Oxford University. John Fowles won international recognition with his first published title. The Collector (1963). He was immediately acclaimed as an outstandingly innovative writer of exceptional imaginative power and this reputation was confirmed with the appearance of his subsequent works. He now lives and writes in Lyme Regis, Dorset

Customer Reviews

a difficult book to become absorbed with
I couldn't establish if the author was actually the narrator. There is a point where the narrator describes himself and it matches the picture of the author hence my confusion. The novel is set in 1867 in Lyme Regis. If you are a reader of Victorian literature then you'll understand the social set ups and class systems but even though I have read novels of this time I still struggled with many aspects and this is down to the narrator.

I had many `arguments' with the narrator whilst I was reading as I didn't like some of the styles. The reader is presented with a narrator that is telling us a story as he is writing it but when he comes to a certain point where a character might do something he precedes to tell the reader he doesn't know what will happen as his character hasn't grown yet, or later on in the novel he'll say a character has developed and is making their own mind up about something. It was too contrived for me and made it easy to not have to fully develop the plot and characters.

Had I simply been reading a story about the characters of this novel written in the 1960s but set approximately 100 years earlier, it wouldn't have been anything different so credit to John Fowles for trying to write something more unusual than the norm. I knew nothing of the plot when I read it but I think most people know something of the story and I don't know if Sarah's crime was handled in the right way or not. However, I did become caught up in the other character's thoughts and opinions about Sarah, the French Lieutenant's Woman as well as her own absorption in her reputation. I think I'll read something else by him but only because it's part of a list of books I'm reading through.

A classical masterpiece
I was late coming to this novel. I have heard of the film but never seen it and foolishly thought the book would be some OTT Mills and Boon-type love story. In fact it is a gripping page turner, at times so witty I laughed out loud and at others so dramatic I couldn't put it down. Fowles has such a deep understanding of what it takes to be a novelist that he can subvert the usual roles of character and reader and allows us to join forces with the narrator as we watch the drama unfold. A hugely passsionate and brilliantly well-written novel. I know I can't now see the film as it would never measure up.

Still fresh and intriguing
As fresh and intriguing as on my first reading of this book many years ago. The Victorian age is brilliantly portrayed from the genteel pretensions of Lyme to the rough and tumble of the seedier parts of London. The main characters are strongly portrayed. Would-be paleontologist Charles is from a comfortable upper class background but condescends happily to become engaged to Ernestina who is a pleasant but shallow daughter of a prosperous middle class draper. But into their lives comes Sarah, the enigmatic woman who is rumoured to have been "ruined" by a liaison with French seaman.

Fowles is particularly good on the class war and social mores of the time: The attitude of society to Sarah is shocking as is the off-hand way in which servants are treated. When Ernestina's father suggests that Charles join the drapery business he is truly aghast at the idea even though he has no career in mind.

Sarah remains ambiguous - we are left uncertain as to whether she is manipulative and self-absorbed or badly treated and depressed. Throughout the book she both irritates and evokes our sympathy.

The other central character is the writer himself. He playfully drops in and out of the writing, discussing the motives of the characters and suggesting three different endings. This works superbly. The French Lieutenant's Woman is a twentieth century classic.