The French Lieutenant's Woman

I was utterly captivated by Meryl Streep’s performance in the film; I had to read the book. Great plot line with its revolutionary intrigue. My heart warmed utterly to Sarah Woodruff, and the mysterious, charismatic qualities she so powerfully radiated. She was a powerful fractional role model for Charity’s character.   

Fowles studied French Literature and knew the metafictional and postmodern French fashions before they leaked out to much of the rest of the world in the sixties and seventies. In this novel he uses, even parodies, some of the techniques of the French genre, but the wonderful thing is that reading the novel is not an experience of mere authorial cleverness, fashionableness, or hubristic/ hermetic disconnections from reality and the serious ethical concerns of those who have to function in the real world. You put the book down and know you’ve had a meaningful experience. 

The novel’s protagonist, Charles,… show more.