... Possible inspirations for Byatt’s Possession? (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
One of the high points of my tenure as book editor was a long dinner with Antonia Byatt. Easy to figure how Day-Lewis would have been taken with her. She is dazzling. She was on tour promoting A Whistling Woman and we talked a good bit about the tetralogy of which it is a part, and she mentioned that Alexander Wedderburn, the playwright in The Virgin in the Garden, was based on Cecil Day-Lewis. She still felt very affectionate toward him, it seemed. He had obviously been very kind to her.
Yes, I met Byatt and her husband here in Lyon last year. What a warm and approachable woman! Her husband is also a great laugh and full of enthusiasm! They treated me like an old friend ... and she happily posed for a photo, enduring several attempts.
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