A Ripple from the Storm

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A Ripple from the Storm
A Ripple from the Storm.jpg
Author Doris Lessing
Cover artistWilliam Belcher
LanguageEnglish
Series Children of Violence
Genre Novel
Published 1958
Publisher Michael Joseph
Publication placeUnited Kingdom
Media typePrint
ISBN 0060976640
Preceded by A Proper Marriage  
Followed by Landlocked  

A Ripple from the Storm (1958) is the third novel in British Nobel Prize in Literature-winner Doris Lessing five volume, semi-autobiographical, series, Children of Violence . The first volume is Martha Quest (1952), and the others are, A Proper Marriage (1954), Landlocked (1965), and The Four-Gated City (1969). The Children of Violence series, follows the life of protagonist Martha Quest "from girlhood to middle age". [1]

A Ripple in the Storm describes the growth of a Communist group in a small town in Central Africa, "as a result of the general mood of optimism, enthusiasm and admiration for the Soviet Union current in the years 1942, 1943 and 1944." Martha Quest, now divorced from her husband, joins the communists and marries its leader, who is a German refugee. [2]

There are obvious parallels with Doris Lessing's own life, because after she divorced her first husband, she joined the Left Book Club in 1943. It was here that she met her future second husband, Gottfried Lessing, a refugee from Germany. [3]

Reception

Paul Schlueter of The Buffalo News opined that Lessing is "capable of the intricate and methodical care demanded of such a form" and called the series as a whole a "monumental accomplishment." [4] John Wain of The Observer called it a "very good book" and "battleship-grey". [5] Virgilia Peterson-Sapieha  [ pl ] of the Chicago Tribune wrote that Lessing "appears to lack" the "negative, but invaluable instinct of knowing what to leave out and when to stop." [6]

References

  1. "Martha Quest | fictional character | Britannica". www.britannica.com.
  2. "A Ripple from the Storm by Doris Lessing". www.dorislessing.org.
  3. "Biography". www.dorislessing.org. Archived from the original on 25 July 2011. Retrieved 4 May 2016.
  4. Schlueter, Paul (9 April 1966). "Is Truly Great Woman Write Overlooked?". The Buffalo News . Retrieved 20 March 2025.
  5. Wain, John (12 October 1958). "POSSIBLE WORLDS". The Observer . Retrieved 20 March 2025.
  6. Peterson-Sapieha, Virgilia (3 April 1966). "Scarcely a Break in the Story". Chicago Tribune . Retrieved 20 March 2025.