The Virgin in the Garden . . . Still Life . . . Babel Tower . . . and now, A Whistling Woman, the triumphant conclusion to A. S. Byatt's dazzling and critically acclaimed quartet of novels about English life.

It is the late 1960s, and the world begins to split. While Frederica -- the spirited heroine of the novels -- falls into a career in television in London, tumultuous events in her home county of Yorkshire threaten to change her life and those of the people she loves. Near the university, where the scientists Luk and Jacqueline are studying snails and neurones and the working of the brain, an "anti-university" springs up. On the high moors nearby a gentle therapeutic community is taken over by a turbulent, charismatic leader. Meanwhile, visions of blood and flames, of mirrors and doubles, share the refracting energy of Frederica's mosaic-like television shows.

Through her lovingly drawn characters and breathtaking twists of plot, A. S. Byatt illuminates the effervescence of the 1960s -- both its excitement and its dangers -- as no one has done before. Magical, thought-provoking, and with spine-chilling moments, A Whistling Woman is sexy and scary, and bursting with ideas, scientific discoveries, ethical conflicts, sly humor, and wonderful humanity