Memorable middle class

Press, 15 April 1978, Page 17

Memorable middle class

The Ice Age. By Margaret Drabble. Weidenfeld and Nicolson. 297 pp. $9.75.

Such novels as “The Garrick Year,” and “The Millstone” have established Margaret Drabble as one of the most interesting novelists writing in Britain. It is a great pity that she is still labelled as a young woman novelist; this probably limits her audience and is not really accurate. She is now nearly 40, but even in her earlier novels her writing showed unusual craftsmanship and experience. Moreover, although her stories may tell of. women managing babies, careers and family budgets, the themes they embody are never narrowly feminist. In this latest novel, “The Ice Age,” her canvas has broadened further. She portrays vividly' rwo middle-class, middle-aged English

people. Antony Keating, who rebels against his liberal upbringing and has switched from producing “social conscience” television programmes to property speculation; and Alison Murray, a woman whose marriage has broken and who is trying to reconcile the conflicting claims of two very different daughters. Through these two, and their friends and families. Margaret Drabble presents a complicated and memos able picture of Britain’s middle class struggling, largely uncomprehendmgiy through the 19705. It is a funny, perceptive and sad group of portraits. “The Ice Age,” is thought-provoking and sensitive, yet. like many of her books, does not quite fulfil the feeling of expectation one gets when reading the promising first page. — MARGARET QUIGLEY.