| A Whistling Woman | |
| Author: | A. S. Byatt |
| Country: | United Kingdom (2002) United States (2002) |
| Language: | English |
| Series: | Frederica Potter Quartet #4 |
| Genre: | Literary fiction |
| Publisher: | Chatto & Windus (UK) Alfred A. Knopf (US) |
| Media Type: | Print (paperback, hardcover), ebook |
| Pages: | 422 pp (UK paperback 1st ed.) |
| Isbn: | 9780701173807 |
| Dewey: | 823/.914 |
| Congress: | PR6052.Y2 W48 2003 |
| Oclc: | 59489476 |
| Preceded By: | Babel Tower |
| Pub Date: | September 2002 |
| Isbn Note: | (UK paperback 1st ed.) |
A Whistling Woman is a 2002 novel by British writer A. S. Byatt. The novel was published by Chatto & Windus in 2002 and in the United States by Alfred A. Knopf, another division of Penguin.
The novel is the final in a tetralogy, preceded by The Virgin in the Garden (1978), Still Life (1985), and Babel Tower (1996).[1] Jonathan Walker, in a paper published by Contemporary Literature, referred to the series of books as the "Frederica quartet".[2] Byatt herself expressed a preference for The Virgin in the Garden quartet when speaking about it ("It isn't Frederica's book--though she's the sort of person who would muscle in and try to take it!") and noted her publisher's intention to produce a boxed set, simply titled The Quartet.[3]
Byatt has said the novel is "about utopianism...and a dangerous sort of mystical romanticism".[4]
A Whistling Woman is half dedicated to Frances Ashcroft.[3]