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Content snapshot
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Violence
Barely any
Some violence; primarily the psychological violence of failed relationships and political betrayal
Language
Some
Some profanity in the mid-century literary register
Sexual Content
A lot
Explicit sexual content throughout; women's sexuality and sexual politics are central subjects of the novel
Substance Use
Some
Significant drinking among the intellectual London milieu; some drug use
Emotional Intensity
Very heavy
Extreme psychological content: a mental breakdown and dissociation are depicted at length; the fragmentation of a woman's identity under the pressures of her time is the novel's defining subject
What this book is about
Anna Wulf, a writer and former Communist in 1950s London, keeps four notebooks that divide her life into separate compartments — her African experiences, her political beliefs, her love affairs, and her fictional alter ego — alongside the fifth golden notebook that tries to unify them all. Doris Lessing's landmark novel is comprehensive in its examination of women's inner lives, political disillusionment, and the fragmentation of identity. Sexually frank, politically detailed, and psychologically demanding, it remains one of the most important feminist novels of the 20th century.
Notes for sensitive readers
Reader-flagged moments and themes that may affect your experience.
Explicit sexual content throughout
Detailed political content — Communist ideology and its discontents
Mental breakdown and dissociation depicted at length
Abortion depicted with emotional weight
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