The Red Queen - by Margaret Drabble (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

Barbara Halliwell, on a grant at Oxford, receives an unexpected package-a centuries-old memoir by a Korean crown princess. An appropriate gift indeed for her impending trip to Seoul, but Barbara doesn't know who sent it. On the plane, she avidly reads the memoir, a story of great intrigue as well as tragedy. The Crown Princess Hyegyong recounts in extraordinary detail the ways of the Korean court and confesses the family dramas that left her childless and her husband dead by his own hand. When a Korean man Barbara meets at her hotel offers to guide her to some of the haunts of the crown princess, Barbara tours the royal courts and develops a strong affinity for everything related to the princess and her mysterious life. Barbara's time in Korea goes quickly, but captivated by her experience and wanting to know more about the princess, she wonders if her life can ever be the way it was before.

From the Back Cover

"A love song to literature." --Chicago Tribune

On the cusp of a trip to Korea, Barbara Halliwell receives an unexpected package with no return address. Inside she finds a centuries-old memoir by a Korean crown princess that details the mysteries of the Korean court as well as the dramas that left the princess childless and her husband dead by his own hand. In Seoul, the intriguing Dr. Oo takes her through the courts themselves, an experience that leaves her as enchanted by him as by the mysterious life of the princess. She returns to England spellbound, wondering whether her life can ever return to normal--and whether she truly wants it to.
A San Francisco Chronicle Best Book of the Year
A Chicago Tribune Best Book of the Year
"An 18th-century Korean princess tells her harrowing life story in...Drabble's lovely, intelligent 16th novel. A-."--Entertainment Weekly

Margaret Drabble is the author of many novels, including The Seven Sisters, The Peppered Moth, and The Witch of Exmoor, and is the editor of The Oxford Companion to English Literature. She lives in London.
Reading Group Guide available at www.HarcourtBooks.com

Review Quotes

PRAISE FOR MARGARET DRABBLE

"Reading Margaret Drabble's novels has become something of a rite of passage."-The Washington Post

"As meticulous as Jane Austen, and as deadly as Evelyn Waugh." -Los Angeles Times

PRAISE FOR THE SEVEN SISTERS

"With humor, compassion and ironic detachment, Margaret Drabble has created a memorable portrait of an older woman who is constructing a new life with renewed energy and increased self-knowledge."-Chicago Tribune (Favorite Book of 2002)
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