Publisher Description

A landmark in feminist literature, THE WOMEN'S ROOM is a biting social commentary of a world gone silently haywire. Written in the 1970s but with profound resonance today, this is a modern allegory that offers piercing insight into the social norms accepted blindly and revered so completely.







'Today's "desperate housewives" eat your heart out! This is the original and still the best, a page-turner that makes you think. Essential reading' Kate Mosse



'They said this book would change lives - and it certainly changed mine' Jenni Murray



'Reading THE WOMEN'S ROOM was an intense and wonderful experience. It is in my DNA' Kirsty Wark



'THE WOMEN'S ROOM took the lid off a seething mass of women's frustrations, resentments and furies; it was about the need to change things from top to bottom; it was a declaration of independence' OBSERVER

Notes

Reissued as a Virago Modern Classic.

Author Biography

Marilyn French (1929 -) is regarded as one of the greatest living feminist writers. Her controversial and provocative first novel THE WOMEN'S ROOM, published in 1977, sold 20 million copies worldwide and quickly became a classic of the women's movement. Marilyn French is also a literary critic, her articles and stories appearing in a wide range of journals and anthologies.

Review

'They said this book would change lives - and it certainly changed mine.' Jenni Murray 'The kind of book that changes lives' Fay Weldon *'Reading The Women's Room was an intense and wonderful experience. It is in my DNA' Kirsty Wark.*'The Women's Room took the lid off a seething mass of women's frustrations, resentments and furies; it was an angry book about the victimisation of women, about the need to change things from top to bottom; it was a declaration of independence' Observer

Kirkus US Review

Destined for a TV series, this marathon Lib seminar-cum-soaper pops on about the plight of women as victims in contemporary society - particularly those of middle years. Like Mira, who's been bred and buttered-up to the "shit-and-string-beans" treadmill of suburban marriage and motherhood. In first and third person, we study Mira's childhood, sexual awakening, disillusions, early marriage, childbearing, the move to the golden suburbs for days of little kids and new friends: "the lazy life. . . it went nowhere. . . they had not been chosen but had been automatically slotted into their lives." But the lazy life also means the drift toward divorce, affairs, the bottle, psychic batterings, even attempted suicide - and the rumination: "You think I hate men. . . . I guess I do." So Mira is divorced by dull Norm, and life begins at 38 - at Harvard's graduate school, where she meets a group of fiercely-speaking-out, feverishly-living women, including big Val, doomed to be shot to death in a Lib protest demonstration. In the process of hoisting her consciousness, Mira falls in love with nice and successfully sexy Ben and brings her sons closer by her honest expression of Feelings, but she does NOT Want A Child by Ben - so finis and goodbye. Throughout, the women talk out relationships with men, children, and each other in that heavy sweating-out, hanging-out jargon that's long since lost the bloom, complete with aggrieved, savage humor (on exclusion from male libraries and dining rooms: "the real reason is sanitary. . . Splat Splat a big clot of menstrual blood right on the threshold"). Awful things happen to everyone, and the gut-wrenchers roll on like the toilet tissue in the TV commercials - but this time the women squeeze the bejeezus out of Mr. Whipple. (Kirkus Reviews)

Long Description

A landmark in feminist literature, THE WOMEN'S ROOM is a biting social commentary of a world gone silently haywire. Written in the 1970s but with profound resonance today, this is a modern allegory that offers piercing insight into the social norms accepted blindly and revered so completely.'Today's "desperate housewives" eat your heart out! This is the original and still the best, a page-turner that makes you think. Essential reading' Kate Mosse'They said this book would change lives - and it certainly changed mine' Jenni Murray'Reading THE WOMEN'S ROOM was an intense and wonderful experience. It is in my DNA' Kirsty Wark'THE WOMEN'S ROOM took the lid off a seething mass of women's frustrations, resentments and furies; it was about the need to change things from top to bottom; it was a declaration of independence' OBSERVER

Review Quote

'They said this book would change lives - and it certainly changed mine.' Jenni Murray 'The kind of book that changes lives' Fay Weldon *'Reading The Women's Room was an intense and wonderful experience. It is in my DNA' Kirsty Wark.*'The Women's Room took the lid off a seething mass of women's frustrations, resentments and furies; it was an angry book about the victimisation of women, about the need to change things from top to bottom; it was a declaration of independence' Observer

Promotional "Headline"

The classic feminist novel, reissued for its 30th anniversary.

Description for Sales People

THE WOMEN'S ROOM celebrates its 30th anniversary in 2007

Details