A Whistling Woman

A Whistling Woman is a 2002 novel by British writer A. S. Byatt. The novel was published by Chatto & Windus in 2002 and in the United States by Alfred A. Knopf, another division of Penguin.

A Whistling Woman

First edition
Author	A. S. Byatt
Language	English
Series	Frederica Potter Quartet #4
Genre	Literary fiction
Publisher	Chatto & Windus (UK) Alfred A. Knopf (US)
Publication date	September 2002
Publication place	United Kingdom (2002) United States (2002)
Media type	Print (paperback, hardcover), ebook
Pages	422 pp (UK paperback 1st ed.)
ISBN	9780701173807 (UK paperback 1st ed.)
OCLC	59489476
Dewey Decimal	823/.914
LC Class	PR6052.Y2 W48 2003
Preceded by	Babel Tower

Tetralogy naming

The novel is the final in a tetralogy, preceded by The Virgin in the Garden (1978), Still Life (1985), and Babel Tower (1996).^[1] Jonathan Walker, in a paper published by Contemporary Literature, referred to the series of books as the "Frederica quartet".^[2] Byatt herself expressed a preference for The Virgin in the Garden quartet when speaking about it ("It isn't Frederica's book--though she's the sort of person who would muscle in and try to take it!") and noted her publisher's intention to produce a boxed set, simply titled The Quartet.^[3]

Themes

Byatt has said the novel is "about utopianism...and a dangerous sort of mystical romanticism".^[4]

A Whistling Woman is half dedicated to Frances Ashcroft.^[3]

References

1. Yeazell, Ruth Bernard (28 November 2002). "Overindulgence". London Review of Books. 24 (23). ISSN 0260-9592. Retrieved 1 November 2022.
2. Walker, Jonathan; Byatt, A. S.; Norfolk, Lawrence (2006). "An Interview with A. S. Byatt and Lawrence Norfolk". Contemporary Literature. 47 (3): 319–342. doi:10.3368/cl.47.3.319. ISSN 0010-7484. JSTOR 4489165. Retrieved 1 November 2022.
3. Newman, Jenny; Friel, James (2003). "An interview with A. S. Byatt". Cercles. Retrieved 11 September 2010. ASB: ... I remember sitting at high table with my friend, Professor Frances Ashcroft, to whom A Whistling Woman is half dedicated... The whole of The Virgin in the Garden quartet is about the desirability of an androgynous mind... JN & JF: I notice that the quartet which begins with The Virgin in the Garden is sometimes called The Frederica Quartet. ASB: My paperback publisher, you will be glad to hear, is going to make it a boxed set, and it's just going to be called The Quartet. It isn't Frederica's book--though she's the sort of person who would muscle in and try to take it!
4. Leith, Sam (24 April 2009). "Interview: AS Byatt". The Guardian. Retrieved 1 November 2022.