An Experiment in Love is a novel by Hilary Mantel first published in 1995 by Viking Books.
An Experiment in Love is a novel by Hilary Mantel first published in 1995 by Viking Books.
A chance discovery of a news article on a former schoolmate, Julia Lipcott, triggers a flood of memories for Carmel McBain, who reflects back on her experiences at school and university, and her relationships with Julia and another contemporary, Karina. The novel oscillates between Carmel's time at a convent school in Lancashire where she first met Karina, the daughter of Eastern European immigrants, and later Julianne (Julia), the daughter of a doctor; and the 1970s when the three all attended the University of London together.
After an absence from school as a child, Carmel meets Karina. The two both live in the same row of houses and walk to school every day together, but never become close. Carmel attributes this to the fact that, as an infant, she kicked a doll of Karina's. Class differences also separate the two girls: despite the fact that they both come from working-class families, Karina's parents are even poorer than Carmel's.
At the age of ten, Carmel's mother pushes her to take the a scholarship exam for the Holy Redeemer, a prestigious Catholic secondary school, and persuades Karina's mother Mary to let Karina apply as well. Both girls are successful and it is here they meet Julianne (as she is then known) for the first time.
All three are successful in applying to the University of London. Carmel shares a room in a hall of residence with Julianne, who later changes her name to Julia; while Karina stays with Lynette, a wealthy only child. Karina and Carmel grow further apart. Carmel's university existence is marked by extreme poverty and hunger, while Karina somehow manages to subsist on even fewer resources.
Author Margaret Atwood championed the book in a review in The New York Times when it was first published in the U.S., stating that the "pleasures of the novel [...] are many". [1] Author Zadie Smith included the novel as part of a course syllabus which leaked online in 2013. [2]
The book was discussed on BBC Radio 4's A Good Read in October 2021. [3]
An Experiment in Love won the 1996 Hawthornden Prize.
Sophie Dahl is an English author and former fashion model. Her first novel was published in 2003, The Man with the Dancing Eyes, followed by Playing With the Grown-ups in 2007. In 2009 she wrote Miss Dahl's Voluptuous Delights, a cookery book with recipes that were recreated for a six-part BBC 2 series, The Delicious Miss Dahl. In 2011 her cookery book, From Season to Season was published, and her first children's book, Madame Badobedah, was published in 2019. She is the granddaughter of author Roald Dahl.
Zadie Smith FRSL is an English novelist, essayist, and short-story writer. Her debut novel, White Teeth (2000), immediately became a best-seller and won a number of awards. She has been a tenured professor in the Creative Writing faculty of New York University since September 2010.
Janet Ellis, is an English television presenter, actress and writer, who is best known for presenting the children's television programmes Blue Peter and Jigsaw between 1979 and 1987. She has published two novels, The Butcher's Hook (2016) and How It Was (2019). She has three children: the singer/songwriter Sophie Ellis-Bextor, the former child actor now drummer Jackson Ellis-Leach and the art historian Martha Ellis-Leach.
Sophie Michelle Ellis-Bextor is an English singer and songwriter. She first came to prominence in the late 1990s, as the lead singer of the indie rock band Theaudience. After the group disbanded, Ellis-Bextor went solo, achieving success in the early 2000s. Her music is a mixture of mainstream pop, disco, nu-disco, and 1980s electronic influences.
Anna Judith Gertrud Helene Kerr was a Jewish, German-born British writer and illustrator whose books sold more than 10 million copies around the world. She created both enduring picture books such as the Mog series and The Tiger Who Came to Tea and acclaimed novels for older children such as the semi-autobiographical When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit, which gave a child's-eye view of escaping Hitler's persecution in the Second World War. Born in the Weimar Republic, she came to Britain with her family in 1935 to escape persecution during the rise of the Nazis.
White Teeth is a 2000 novel by the British author Zadie Smith. It focuses on the later lives of two wartime friends—the Bangladeshi Samad Iqbal and the Englishman Archie Jones—and their families in London. The novel is centered on Britain's relationship with immigrants from the British Commonwealth.
Edwidge Danticat is a Haitian-American novelist and short story writer. Her first novel, Breath, Eyes, Memory, was published in 1994 and went on to become an Oprah's Book Club selection. Danticat has since written or edited several books and has been the recipient of many awards and honors.
Sophie Anna Ward is an English stage and screen actress, and a writer of non-fiction and fiction. As an actress, she played Elizabeth Hardy, the female lead in Barry Levinson's Young Sherlock Holmes (1985), and in other feature film roles including in Cary Joji Fukunaga's period drama Jane Eyre (2011), and Jane Sanger's horror feature, Swiperight (2020). In 1982 she had a role in the Academy Award-winning best short film, A Shocking Accident. On television she played Dr Helen Trent in British police drama series Heartbeat from 2004 to 2006, the character Sophia Byrne in the series Holby City from 2008 to 2010, the role of Lady Ellen Hoxley in the series Land Girls from 2009 to 2011, and that of Lady Verinder in the mini-series The Moonstone (2016). She has had a variety of other roles on stage and in short and feature films.
Anna Maxwell Martin, sometimes credited as Anna Maxwell-Martin, is a British actress. She has won two British Academy Television Awards, for her portrayals of Esther Summerson in the BBC's 2005 adaptation of Bleak House and "N" in Channel 4's 2008 adaptation of Poppy Shakespeare. She is also known for her roles as DCS Patricia Carmichael in BBC One crime drama Line of Duty (2019–present) and as Kelly Major in Code 404 (2020–present). From 2016 to 2021, Maxwell Martin played the lead role in BBC TV comedy Motherland for which she was nominated for the BAFTA Award for Best Female Comedy Performance.
Carmel Jackson is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera EastEnders, played by Judith Jacob from 5 June 1986 to 24 August 1989. Carmel, a health visitor, was initially introduced in a recurring, minor role in 1986, when she is credited as "health visitor". Producers saw potential in the character, and script writers were asked to develop more prominent storylines, and Carmel became a regular character. She is portrayed as a well-meaning, caring individual who is forever getting everyone's problems dumped on her. She is featured in storylines about domestic violence and various family and career upsets. Jacob remained in the role until 1989, when she opted to leave. Off-screen, the character was the subject of criticism regarding the portrayal of her profession from the Health Visitors Association.
Lorna Sage was an English academic, literary critic and author, remembered especially for contributing to consideration of women's writing and for a memoir of her early life, Bad Blood (2000). She taught English literature at the University of East Anglia.
Nikki Amuka-Bird is a Nigerian-born British actress of the stage, television, and film.
Sophie Flack is an author, freelance writer and editor, and former dancer with the New York City Ballet.
Katherine Frances Brand, known as Katy Brand, is an English actress, comedian and writer, known for her ITV2 series Katy Brand's Big Ass Show and for Comedy Lab Slap on Channel 4.
Roopa Farooki is a British novelist and medical doctor. Born in Lahore, she lives between France and Great Britain. Her first novel, Bitter Sweet, was shortlisted for the 2007 Orange Award for New Writers.
The School for Good and Evil is a fantasy fairytale hexalogy of books by Soman Chainani. The first novel in the series was published on May 14, 2013. The series is set in a fictional widespread location known as the Endless Woods. The original trilogy follows the adventures of best friends Sophie and Agatha at the School for Good and Evil, an enchanted institution where children are trained to become fairytale heroes or villains, respectively. The second trilogy follows Agatha and her true love King Tedros ascending to the role of Queen and King of the legendary kingdom, Camelot, and Sophie re-forming Evil into a new image. The final book in the series was released on June 2, 2020.
Simi Bedford is a Nigerian novelist based in Britain. Her 1991 debut book Yoruba Girl Dancing (1991), an autobiographical novel about a young Nigerian girl who is sent to England to receive a private school education, was well reviewed on publication and was the subject of a BBC Radio 4 abridgement. Her second novel, Not With Silver, was published in 2007.
Swing Time is a novel by British writer Zadie Smith, released in November 2016. The story takes place in London, New York and West Africa, and focuses on two girls who can tap dance, alluding to Smith's childhood love of tap dancing.
Raechelle Jasmine Banno is an Australian actress, dancer, writer, and model. Banno began acting and modelling when she was nine years old. After appearing in various television commercials and short films, Banno played Olivia Fraser Richards in the Australian soap opera Home and Away from 2015 until 2018. Banno played Atria Nine in the first season of sci-fi action series Pandora (2019). She will portray Ruby Landry in four television films adapted from V. C. Andrews' Landry novels in 2021.
Musa Okwonga is a British author, podcaster, and musician.