At The Week magazine, Mead named her six favorite books that illuminate the Victorian era, including:Possession by A.S. ByattRead about another entry on the list.
Byatt won the 1990 Booker Prize for this novel, in which two modern-day scholars discover a previously unknown romance between their 19th-century objects of study. Byatt's deep immersion in Victorian literature and her familiarity with late-20th-century academia allow her to create two utterly persuasive, intersecting worlds.
Possession also appears on Marina Warner ten top list of fairytales, Ester Bloom's top ten list of fictional feminists, Niall Williams's list of ten of the best books that manage to make heroes out of readers, Kyle Minor's list of fifteen of the hottest affairs in literature, Emily Temple's list of the fifty greatest campus novels ever written, John Mullan's lists of ten of the best fossils in literature, ten of the most memorable libraries in literature, ten of the best fictional poets, ten of the best locks of hair in fiction, ten of the best graveyard scenes in fiction, and ten of the best lawyers in literature, and on Rachel Syme's list of the ten most attractive men in literature, Christina Koning's critic's chart of six top romances, and Elizabeth Kostova's top ten list of books for winter nights.
--Marshal Zeringue
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