L Shaped room, a riveting read! Unwed and pregnant in a hovel!

[Sarahbee3]

I am reading this for my book club and loving it- sounded boring but she meets great unexpected people and has to deal with an old fashion dad who boots her out of the house (Mum's dead). Can't put it down!

and also the misogyny - the shocking way the doctor speaks to her and she loses her job when her employer finds out she is pregnant.

Read this at 17. It was so good that it's still on my book shelf (lots of years later) and didn't go to the charity shop. Thanks for the reminder - it's now on my summer 'read list'!

I read one of her adult novels from the library, Fair Exchange, a few years ago. I have a children's one which is a sort of sequel to the one about the 6 day war, called Burning Bright. I have to say I'm not quite comfortable with her Israel books - this has always been quite a hot issue in my family (Israel and Palestine not LRB)

Just bumping this as I was just downloading some podcasts from Radio 4 and I noticed there is a programme with LRB discussing The L-Shaped Room on there. The link to the podcast is here - www.bbc.co.uk/podcasts/series/openbook , I haven't listened to it yet but have never heard an interview with her so am keen to.

Thanks WSS Glad to hear LRB is alive and well! I've never downloaded a podcast before - determined to make this my first

I heard the programme by accident - had to sit in the car outside the house until it finished! What a cool lady. Very old school, very astute and funny. And she was very honest and intelligent about the way she wrote about race in the book. She is still my absolute hero.

I'm about 3/4 of the way throught this book and I cannot put it down. It's fantastic and has shot up to the top of the list of books I've read this year.

I got this nudged towards me and 'The millstone' as a teenager . All in all its a miracle I ever had kids. Hark! it awakes....

Ooh, like The Millstone too and various other 1960's Margaret Drabbles, more so than her later ones. Lol at being nudged towards that and L-Shaped Room, was someone trying to prevent you having an unwanted pregnancy?