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Margaret Drabble Biography, Books, and Similar Authors

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Margaret Drabble
Photo: Chester Higgins Jr

Margaret Drabble

Margaret Drabble Biography

Margaret Drabble was born June 5, 1939 in Sheffield, Yorkshire, England.

She attended the Mount School, York, a Quaker boarding-school, and was awarded a major scholarship to Newnham College, Cambridge, where she read English and received double honors. After graduating from Cambridge University, she joined the Royal Shakespeare Company at Stratford.

In 1960 she married her first husband, actor Clive Swift, who is best known for his role in the 1990 BBC television comedy Keeping Up Appearances. They had three children in the 1960's and divorced in 1975.

She subsequently married the biographer Michael Holroyd in the early 1980's. They live in London and also have a house in Somerset.

Her novel The Millstone won the John Llewelyn Rhys Prize, and she was the recipient of a Society of Author's Travelling Fellowship in the mid-1960's. She also received the James Tait Black and the E.M. Forster awards and was awarded the CBE in 1980. Her books are often described as ones people should read to get a clear view of what it's like to live in England. This is true not only because of her non-fiction books For Queen and Country and A Writer's Britain but also because of her fiction novels. The English personalities of her characters are tangible in her novels which, through the decades, have also reflected the dramatic political, economic and social changes that have taken place in Great Britain.

Margaret Drabble's website

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Books by this Author

Books by Margaret Drabble at BookBrowse
The Dark Flood Rises jacket The Pure Gold Baby jacket A Day in the Life of a Smiling Woman jacket The Pattern in the Carpet jacket
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Read-Alikes

All the books below are recommended as read-alikes for Margaret Drabble but some maybe more relevant to you than others depending on which books by the author you have read and enjoyed. So look for the suggested read-alikes by title linked on the right.
How we choose read-alikes

  • Martine Bailey

    Martine Bailey

    An amateur cook, Martine Bailey won the Merchant Gourmet Recipe Challenge and was a former UK Dessert Champion, cooking at Le Meurice in Paris. Her recipes have appeared in many publications including Good Housekeeping, Olive... (more)

    If you enjoyed:
    The Red Queen

    Try:
    An Appetite for Violets
    by Martine Bailey

  • Donna Woolfolk Cross

    Donna Woolfolk Cross

    Donna Woolfolk Cross graduated cum laude from the University of Pennsylvania with a B.A. in English. She moved to London, England, and worked as an editorial assistant for W.H. Allen and Company. Upon her return to the ... (more)

    If you enjoyed:
    The Red Queen

    Try:
    Pope Joan
    by Donna Woolfolk Cross

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