I have found a new love. A new author to think about, to read, to emulate, to go to when I need some kick in my ass to write. A.S. Byatt, to put it bluntly, EFFING ROCKS. That's just simply put. Simply it. I went to a great used bookstore here in Baltimore called Normal's, a most excellent wealth of ... well, everything. Their stacks secretly remind me of a closet I hope to have one day, books books books. On one trip, I picked up Possession, along with Dr. Faustus and a few others. Possession, is, I think, the first book of that shopping day I've stopped to read.

The story is labeled "a romance," and indeed it is, but none of that Steele, Garland or other bubbly-naked-cover romance you may associate with the word. It takes place in two different times: 1986 or 87, and 1859-61. Two present-day scholars, academia in poets, long-dead, and the two long-dead poets, up until one fateful day, were never to be related to each other further than the opposing readings of each. One labeled a misogynist who cared only for words, found women weak, etc. and the other a lesbian, fiercely independent, fiercely an artist, fiercely claiming a place in intellect. But one of these present-day scholars, Roland, fumbles, and finds a handwritten, unfinished letter by the man-poet, Randolph Henry Ash, and recognizes a sense of intimacy never before seen in his writing. Not knowing why, only that it touched him more than mere intellect, he took it.

What unfolds is absolutely FANTASTIC. Studies, researches, trips, underhandings, discoveries, sex that's not sex, intrigue, mystery, desire--they're all there.

In looking for the appropriate cover (the version I read), I found a movie cover and did not realize that a film has been made based on the book. I did watch the film Angels & Insects which, I discovered on a return trip to Normal's, Byatt also wrote, as well as Babette's Feast, another book-cum-movie.

As a shameful side note, I was distraught to find that I immediately assumed A.S. Byatt was a man, based on the name alone. I was thrilled to learn otherwise, quite by surprise. This makes me wonder: what name will I use when I publish? Because... I do intend to publish.