"The Sweetest Dream" by Doris Lessing. [review - radio script]

Abstract

Doris Lessing turned 82 this year, but she shows no sign of mellowing or tiring. Her output continues to be prodigious, even for a writer half her age. Since 1994 she has published no fewer than 6 new books – 2 volumes of autobiography and 4 novels, and her range of styles is as various as it ever was. The most recent novels have included a futurist fable (Mara and Dann), a smaller-scale but not short realist novel (Love, Again), a picaresque sequel to "The Fifth Child", her modern-day morality tale (Ben in the World), and, most recently, a huge baggy family saga, "The Sweetest Dream".