Intelligent, sensitive, and fiercely passionate, Martha Quest is a young woman living on a farm in Africa, feeling her way through the torments of adolescence and early womanhood. She is a romantic idealistic in revolt against the puritan snobbery of her parents, trying to live to the full with every nerve, emotion, and instinct laid bare to experience. For her, this is a time of solitary reading daydreams, dancing -- and the first disturbing encounters with sex. The first of Doris Lessing's timeless Children of Violence novels, Martha Quest is an endearing masterpiece.
Kinderen van geweld Reeks
Deze epische serie beschrijft de reis van een jonge vrouw die worstelt met maatschappelijke verwachtingen en persoonlijke ontwakening tijdens de turbulente helft van de 20e eeuw. De serie speelt zich af tegen de achtergrond van koloniaal Afrika en later Londen, waar de protagonist navigeert door complexe persoonlijke en politieke landschappen. Het verhaal duikt in thema's als identiteit, onafhankelijkheid en de zoektocht naar betekenis in een snel veranderende wereld. Het biedt een diepgaande verkenning van het vrouwelijke bewustzijn, intellectuele rebellie en de zoektocht naar authentieke zelfexpressie te midden van historische omwentelingen.
Aanbevolen leesvolgorde
A Proper Marriage
- 384bladzijden
- 14 uur lezen
An unconventional woman trapped in a conventional marriage, Martha Quest struggles to maintain her dignity and her sanity through the misunderstandings, frustrations, infidelities, and degrading violence of a failing marriage. Finally, she must make the heartbreaking choice of whether to sacrifice her child as she turns her back on marriage and security. A Proper Marriage is the second novel in Doris Lessing's classic Children of Violence series of novels, each a masterpiece on its own right, and, taken together, an incisive and all-encompassing vision of our world in the twentieth century.
A Ripple from the Storm
- 336bladzijden
- 12 uur lezen
The third book in the Children of Violence series, a quintet of novels tracing the life of Martha Quest from her childhood in colonial Africa through to old age in a post-nuclear Britain. The other books are Martha Quest , A Proper Marriage , Landlocked and The Four-Gated City .
Landlocked
- 288bladzijden
- 11 uur lezen
The Second World War has ended, but the anticipated relief and change do not come. The war has shattered existing values, and nothing new is in sight. Only violence remains. However, Martha does not believe in violence. Her knowledge is a hope that cannot be substantiated, as her world crumbles around her. The only hope she holds is the idea of a journey to her second homeland, England, where she will carry something that will open the gates of truth for her: the writings of Thomas Stern, her former lover, who could not bear reality and became unhinged. This madness does not lead him to unknown territories but rather provides a clearer insight into his own existence, and what he claims will prove to be true: "I am now the norm."
Kinderen van het geweld - 5: De stad met vier poorten
- 715bladzijden
- 26 uur lezen
Martha Quest keert Zuid-Afrika de rug toe. Doris Lessing beschrijft hoe ze zich in swinging Londen staande weet te houden, ondanks zenuwinzinkingen, vertwijfeling en verdriet. Lessing voert de lezer in de loop van het verhaal de toekomst binnen - in de angstaanjagende wereld van het geweld.