This, the most popular of Byatt's works, is a novel full of ideas which would lend themselves well to group discussions. Vintage Books, which publishes the paperback edition of Possession, has also published a "Reading Group Guide" to the novel, a pamphlet available in bookstores or by calling 1-800-793-BOOK. The pamphlet includes thirteen discussion topics, brief Byatt biography and bibliography, and suggested further reading of poetry related to the novel, on the Victorian period, and other similar novels.

1. What is the nature of the relationship between Christabel and Blanche?

2. What are the attitudes of the various modern characters toward the discovery and ownership of the letters of Christabel and Randolph? What accounts for these different attitudes?

3. How is the story of Melusina appropriate to Christabel herself? What other relationships are there between the Victorian writers and their works?

4. A review criticized the modern characters...