The Middle Ground

[1] The novel explores the "crisis of British urban life" through the eyes of a middle aged journalist, Kate Armstrong.

[1][2] Kirkus Review's describes the same stylistic features, writing that the novel is "Told almost completely in a series of ruminations (Kate's and her friends'), the book has a vulnerable, occasionally fey, but almost consistently charming lurch to it.

The New York Times reviewer Phyllis Rose, described the novel as part of Drabble's chronicling of 20th century British culture, comparing her to Dickens and Balzac, though in doing so it is a "faltering step in her development".

[1] However, Rose had mixed feelings about the novel's treatment, describing it as focusing too much on commentary, writing "it hurts the novel that it is so mercilessly topical.

[4] Kirkus Reviews gave praise for the novel, writing "with each succeeding novel, Drabble appears to edge ever closer to being E. M. Forster's heir: rich works, turned and molded by helpless circumstance, about the apprehensions and redemptions of staying responsible.