Doris Lessing’s caustic satire, The Good Terrorist still reads as a bracing antidote to political righteousnes. Here, John Mullen discussed the novel’s impact.
Book of the Month: The Good Terrorist by Doris Lessing
Book of the Month: The Good Terrorist by Doris Lessing
- Published
In 1985, Doris Lessing was shortlisted for the Booker Prize for her compelling contemporary satire about the contradictions and self-delusion at the heart of political idealism
Set in 1980s London, a loose-knit group of political vagabonds form an ill-defined and volatile underground. Drifting from one cause to the next, they occupy abandoned houses, demonstrate and picket, devise strategies to fit situations that may or may not arise. But, within this world, one small group of men and women - whose deepest conviction seems to rest in a sense of their own largely untested radicalism - is moving inexorably toward active terrorism.
From reading guides and extracts to illuminating features, find out more about our May Book of the Month here.
The Good Terrorist, in Doris Lessing's own words
The Good Terrorist
- Published by
- Jonathan Cape
Radical ideology struggles against a bourgeois upbringing as a conscience rebels in Doris Lessing’s compelling revolutionary satire
Features
- Book recommendations
10 of the best genre-bending Booker Prize-nominated novels
- Book recommendations
10 of the best Booker Prize-nominated books with a political slant
- Book recommendations
10 of the best sci-fi books nominated for the Booker Prizes
- Book recommendations
Where to start with Doris Lessing: a guide to her best works
- Book extract
An extract from The Good Terrorist by Doris Lessing
- Reading guides
