The Gates of Ivory

From Publishers Weekly

Instead of developing a conventional plot, Drabble's brilliant follow-up to The Radiant Way and A Natural Curiosity casts a tone of sympathetic irony over the daily affairs of her heroines. Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

This is the end of a trilogy, begun by The Radiant Way ( LJ 10/15/87) and A Natural Curiosity ( LJ 7/89), that examines life through the eyes of Liz, Esther, and Alix, three friends who met at Cambridge in the 1950s. In this final novel, Liz appears as a counterpoint to Stephen Cox. Influenced by Conrad and his own work as a novelist, Stephen succumbs to an overwhelming desire to observe first-hand the antithetical world of the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia. His friends are skeptical, but no one becomes morbidly concerned until the relics of his journey arrive in a package for Liz. A fascinating mystery ensues, one that's sturdy enough to carry the full weight of sobering social commentary and political reportage along with it. Drabble structures the novel around divided narratives, rather than straight chronology, reasserting in the process her abiding interest in the complexities of human experience. A bibliography is included. Highly recommended. Previewed in Prepub Alert, LJ 1/92. - Janet W. Reit, Univ. of Vermont Lib., Burlington Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.