The Dark Flood Rises

It is told from multiple viewpoints, all of people linked in some way to Francesca (Fran) Stubbs, an elderly woman who does occasional work for a charity on aspects of living accommodation for the old.

There is no strong plot: rather the book conveys different experiences of, and attitudes to, the twilight years of life, with the past histories of the main characters' lives being gradually revealed.

Reviewers remarked on the relative absence of plot, the mordant wit with which the theme is lightened, and the way the narrative approach, with its multiple viewpoints, mirrors the wanderings of Fran's own mind.

The reviewer for The Independent described the book as "witty and intelligent but ultimately uncomfortable, melancholic and rather doom-laden work.

"[1] The Guardian reviewer wrote, "beneath the apparently placid surface, Drabble’s novel seethes with apocalyptic intent.