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The Group

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( 256 ratings, 87 reviews)
Book Hero Magic crafted this summary to help describe this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Summary
The Group by Lara Feigel revolves around a group of women in contemporary London, who reunite decades after their university days. As they confront their shared past and navigate a world reshaped by feminist movements, the novel intricately explores themes of friendship, ambition, and the complexities of modern life. It's a gripping portrayal of how the personal becomes political over time.
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Format: Paperback / softback
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Book Hero Magic created this recommendation. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! IS THIS YOUR NEXT READ?

You might enjoy this book if you're intrigued by stories about friendship, mid-life crises, and the complexities of modern womanhood. Set against the vibrant backdrop of North London, it explores the dynamics of a group of women reconnecting in their mid-thirties, revealing their struggles, secrets, and the societal pressures they face. It offers a compelling narrative filled with emotional depth and societal insight.

Book Hero thinking about your next read

Five women became fast friends at university. Twenty years later they wonder if the people who know you best are the ones you can confide in.

Book Hero Magic formatted this description to make it easier to read. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Description
'A very funny and brilliant book. Feigel does a thorough and virtuosic job of describing the dilemmas of contemporary middle-class women' Rachel Cusk

The five of them – Stella, Priss, Kay, Helena, and Polly – met at university, their lives full of lazy afternoons and late nights. Friendship seemed simple and there was such pleasure in the endless talk and in just living alongside each other.

Now the women are turning forty and they're finding that a shared past can sometimes be a burden. They're all struggling to navigate the ways in which their lives have differed from the plans they made themselves and the hopes they had for each other. In the past, solidarity came easily, but now they compare lovers, husbands, jobs, children, and sofas, asking how the choices they've made or failed to make hold up.

As marriages end and secrets emerge, they wonder whether these people, the ones who know so much about them, are really the ones they can confide in.

Book Hero Magic summarised reviews for this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! HOW HAS THIS BEEN REVIEWED?

The Group by Lara Feigel is praised for its humour, perceptive insights, and vivid exploration of contemporary middle-class dilemmas. The novel's depiction of group dynamics is noted for its mix of causticness and tenderness, making it engrossing and thought-provoking. Reviewers appreciate its cleverness and the way it sensitively yet critically portrays the characters' fears and limitations.

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Book Details

INFORMATION

ISBN: 9781529305012

Publisher: John Murray Press

Format: Paperback / softback

Date Published: 10 June 2021

Country: United Kingdom

Imprint: John Murray Publishers Ltd

Audience: General / adult

DIMENSIONS

Spine width: 26.0mm

Width: 128.0mm

Height: 196.0mm

Weight: 240g

Pages: 336

About the Author

A writer, critic and cultural historian teaching in the English department at King's College London, Lara Feigel is the author of four books including The Love-Charm of Bombs, The Bitter Taste of Victory and, most recently, Free Woman, a book where Lara examines her own life alongside Doris Lessing's to explore what freedom (sexual, psychological, political) might be and whether it's attainable or desirable. She is a fellow of the Royal Society of Literature, writes regularly for the Guardian and lives in Kensal Rise, London, with her two children. The Group is her first novel.

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