Discover our Monthly Spotlight: Possession by A.S. Byatt

We begin the year by revisiting the 1990 Booker Prize-winner, a novel adored by fans and critics alike. Plus: read an extract, explore our reading guide and win a bundle of Byatt's novels

Writing, A.S. Byatt once said, ‘is simply the most important thing in my life’. The novelist, who sadly died in November last year, published her first work in 1964 and never looked back. For over six decades, as an author, academic, and critic, Antonia Byatt wrote and edited widely, from novels to short stories, essays to biographies.

It was her 1990 novel, Possession, that brought her work to the mainstream. Part detective story, part love story, it follows two modern-day academics as they uncover a secret affair between famous fictional poets. A celebration of Victorian literature and language, it is rich in intertextuality and full of Byatt’s signature literary allusions.

The novel, of course, was a sensation: it became a worldwide bestseller following its 1990 Booker Prize win, and was acclaimed by critics. In The New York Times, American writer Jay Parini called Byatt ‘a writer in mid-career whose time has certainly come’, while declaring Possession a ‘tour de force’ – ‘a novel that opens every narrative device of English fiction to inspection without, for a moment, ceasing to delight’. Later, Possession went on to be adapted for the big screen, in a 2002 film starring Gwyneth Paltrow and Aaron Eckhart.

In an exclusive essay for the Booker Prizes website, friend of Byatt and Booker Prize-shortlisted author Michèle Roberts notes how the novel remains relevant. Possession, which Roberts ‘greatly admired’, ‘subtly points to the debates that currently continue over historical accounts and who has the right to write them, over the literary canon and who has the right to determine it, over literary value and who has the right to decide it’, she says.

Byatt was awarded a CBE in 1990, a DBE in 1999, and was recognised by The Times in 2008 as one of the 50 greatest British writers since 1945. She was shortlisted for the Booker once more, with The Children’s Book in 2009. Her legacy endures, which is why Possession is our Monthly Spotlight for January (formerly known as Book of the Month).

If you would like to read or re-read this classic with us, you can explore an extract from the beginning of Possession here. We have also compiled a detailed guide to aid your reading of the novel, alone or with a book club, and you can dive into Michèle Roberts’ full essay here. You can also listen to our latest podcast episode where Jo Hamya and James Walton discuss Possession in-depth. You can watch an archive interview featuring Byatt herself, below, where she talks more on the impact of her prize win, and why she wrote the book.

And don't forget to enter our competition, where you can win a bundle of the author’s novels and a newly-designed, limited-edition Booker Prize tote bag.

Good luck, and happy reading!

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Have you read Possession, or do you plan to read along with us this January? Let us know in the comments below…