The Millstone (novel)
First edition
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| Author | Margaret Drabble |
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| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
| Published | 1965 |
| Publisher | Weidenfeld & Nicolson |
The Millstone is a novel by Margaret Drabble, first published in 1965. It is about an unmarried, young academic who becomes pregnant after a one-night stand and, against all odds, decides to give birth to her child and raise it herself.
Drabble has acknowledged the source of the title to be in Christ's words: "But whoso shall offend one of these little ones who believe in me, it were better that a millstone were hanged about his neck and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea" (Matthew 18:6). The parallel between Christ's words and the plot of the novel is established through the innocent though illegitimate baby, Octavia, the "little one", who is subject to harm, her congenital heart defect rendering her vulnerable in the extreme. Christ's warning of punishment to would-be agents of harm is echoed in the fiercely loving protectiveness of Rosamund, the child's mother.The Millstone, Drabble said in 2011, is about how maternity "changes you into something fiercer than you were before."
Three of Drabble's first six novels have Biblical titles — a remnant perhaps of her Quaker education.The Millstone was the first, the other two being Jerusalem the Golden (1967) and The Needle's Eye (1972).
Set in not-yet-quite Swinging London, The Millstone focuses on the life of Rosamund Stacey, an attractive Cambridge graduate who is writing her thesis on early English poetry while living alone in the spacious flat of her parents, who have gone to Africa for a year on a philanthropic mission. While Rosamund is convinced of both her qualities as a literary historian and her Socialist—and in particular Fabian—ideals, she is rather reluctant when it comes to sex. To avoid being considered old-fashioned or priggish, she has managed to make her small but intimate circle of friends believe that she is carrying on with two men at the same time whereas in fact she is still a virgin and only enjoys her two male friends' company. Each of the men also thinks that she is sleeping with the other one so neither of them presses her to have sex with him.
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