Pure Gold Baby

An “achingly wise” novel about the challenges of motherhood: “Admirers of Marilynne Robinson will find themselves very much at home in this book” (The Wall Street Journal).   Jessica Speight, an anthropologist in 1960s London, is at the beginning of a promising academic career when an affair turns her into a single mother. Baby Anna is delightful—but with time it becomes clear that she is different from other children. Told from the point of view of Jess’s fellow mothers, this is a movingly intimate look at the unexpected transformations at the heart of motherhood.   “How do we treat the child who walks among us in a different way than most? In Margaret Drabble’s hands the answer is with a depth of empathy few master.” —Alice Sebold, author of The Lovely Bones   “Moving and meditative . . . I found a kind of somber bravery in the story of this unwavering, intelligent woman and her guileless and beautiful child.” —Meg Wolitzer, NPR’s All Things Considered   “The Pure Gold Baby is a closely observed group portrait of female friends, a patient insight into the joys and pains of motherhood, and an image of how society has changed and how it has not.” —Harper’s Magazine

An “achingly wise” novel about the challenges of motherhood: “Admirers of Marilynne Robinson will find themselves very much at home in this book” (The Wall Street Journal).   Jessica Speight, an anthropologist in 1960s London, is at the beginning of a promising academic career when an affair turns her into a single mother. Baby Anna is delightful—but with time it becomes clear that she is different from other children. Told from the point of view of Jess’s fellow mothers, this is a movingly intimate look at the unexpected transformations at the heart of motherhood.   “How do we treat the child who walks among us in a different way than most? In Margaret Drabble’s hands the answer is with a depth of empathy few master.” —Alice Sebold, author of The Lovely Bones   “Moving and meditative . . . I found a kind of somber bravery in the story of this unwavering, intelligent woman and her guileless and beautiful child.” —Meg Wolitzer, NPR’s All Things Considered   “The Pure Gold Baby is a closely observed group portrait of female friends, a patient insight into the joys and pains of motherhood, and an image of how society has changed and how it has not.” —Harper’s Magazine