There are three truly great novels about long marriages that I have waited decades to engage with in writing. Those novels are: The Tree of Man by Patrick White, The Rainbow by DH Lawrence and John Updike’s Rabbit novels. In Conrad and Eleanor, I wanted to write about a long marriage and the balance of power between two equally matched partners. What is a long marriage, and how on earth do people do it? Middlemarch by George Eliot (1871-2)This great classic contains an impressive variety of long marriages, each finely drawn and in contrast to its fellows.

Source: The Guardian August 17, 2016 13:37 UTC