The Realms of Gold

The Realms of Gold is a 1975 novel by British novelist Margaret Drabble.

The novel explores the mid-life experiences of anthropologist Frances Wingate and her affair with Karel Schmidt.

Drabble describes the initial inspiration for the novel in an interview in The Paris Review:[2]I was trying to think of something really amusing and cheerful and I thought of the octopus I saw in the museum at Naples.

New York Times reviewer Anatole Broyard described the novel as "drenched with intelligence, that is not enough to make it work.

[1] Kirkus review was much more positive about the novel, calling it "a conspicuous pleasure to read--a cheerful reconciliation of the exactions of the past and the possibilities that lie just ahead.