The revolution that the "aroused consciousness" of women is bringing about in our society has been the concern of scores of novels in recent years. "The Summer Before the Dark" is by far the best to date. In it, Doris Lessing tells of a London woman who, at the age of 45, finds herself, with her children grown and her husband consumed in business, unneeded. After a try at keeping herself occupied with a small job, she goes off on a harrowing trip to Spain with a younger man, then forms a friendship with another woman. Each experience brings her closer to understanding herself and ultimately enables her to face up to the frightening possibilities of independence. In naming "The Summer Before the Dark" one of 1973's outstanding books, the editors of the Book Review declared that "it confirms that Doris Lessing is a plain-speaking, somewhat awkward but immensely attractive master of modern fiction."

By ROGER SALE October, 13, 1974

Reading Doris Lessing is nothing like reading Stephanie Meyer, Nicholas Sparks or even J.K Rowling, though the latter three excel in other aspects in their unique way. The experiences are different in the sense that you are probably not in for a smooth ride when you read Doris Lessing. The flow of the thoughts of the heroine is laden with the painful, sometimes suffocating search for her own identity, complicated by the psychological metaphor and intensified by the cruelty of the reality.

Though the story is about a woman of the age of 45, one has no trouble relating to her when she struggles between two roles, one the respectable, always pleasant, loving, caring upper-middle class lady, the role, in a word, she is supposed to present to the society, and the one that is invisible to the outer world without the proper adornment to reveal her body line or hide the gray band in her hair. One has to put down the book and contemplate: between the two roles, one exhausting yet admirable, one despicable yet truthful, is there a middle ground for one to be at ease with oneself and at peace with the world?