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Life Before Man

Author Margaret Atwood
Look inside
Paperback
$15.95 US
Knopf | Anchor
On sale Apr 13, 1998 | 384 Pages | 978-0-385-49110-5
Add to cart Add to list Exam Copies
  • English > Comparative Literature > Major Themes: Gender
  • Interdisciplinary Studies > Women's and Gender Studies > Women and Literature
  • About
  • Author
A particularly complicated love triangle sets this poetic novel in motion—from the bestselling author of The Handmaid's Tale and The Testaments

Elizabeth and Nate, though habitually unfaithful to each other, have remained married for more than a decade. But after Elizabeth’s latest lover commits suicide, she emerges from her grief to find that her gentle, indecisive husband is on the verge of leaving her. He has become enamored of Lesje, a young paleontologist and perennial innocent who seems to prefers dinosaur fossils to humans. Elizabeth sets her sights on Lesje’s live-in boyfriend, William, and the ensuing emotional maelstrom threatens to upend all of their lives. Blending painful honesty with cutting satire, Margaret Atwood give us characters whose haunting dilemmas linger long after the final page.
© Luis Mora
Margaret Atwood is the author of more than fifty books of fiction, poetry and critical essays. Her novels include Cat’s Eye, The Robber Bride, Alias Grace, The Blind Assassin, and the MaddAddam trilogy. Her 1985 classic, The Handmaid’s Tale, was followed in 2019 by a sequel, The Testaments, which was a global number one bestseller and won the Booker Prize. In 2020 she published Dearly, her first collection of poetry for a decade.
 
Atwood has won numerous awards including the Arthur C. Clarke Award for Imagination in Service to Society, the Franz Kafka Prize, the Peace Prize of the German Book Trade, the PEN USA Lifetime Achievement Award and the Dayton Literary Peace Prize. In 2019 she was made a member of the Order of the Companions of Honour for services to literature. She has also worked as a cartoonist, illustrator, librettist, playwright and puppeteer. She lives in Toronto, Canada. View titles by Margaret Atwood

About

A particularly complicated love triangle sets this poetic novel in motion—from the bestselling author of The Handmaid's Tale and The Testaments

Elizabeth and Nate, though habitually unfaithful to each other, have remained married for more than a decade. But after Elizabeth’s latest lover commits suicide, she emerges from her grief to find that her gentle, indecisive husband is on the verge of leaving her. He has become enamored of Lesje, a young paleontologist and perennial innocent who seems to prefers dinosaur fossils to humans. Elizabeth sets her sights on Lesje’s live-in boyfriend, William, and the ensuing emotional maelstrom threatens to upend all of their lives. Blending painful honesty with cutting satire, Margaret Atwood give us characters whose haunting dilemmas linger long after the final page.

Author

© Luis Mora
Margaret Atwood is the author of more than fifty books of fiction, poetry and critical essays. Her novels include Cat’s Eye, The Robber Bride, Alias Grace, The Blind Assassin, and the MaddAddam trilogy. Her 1985 classic, The Handmaid’s Tale, was followed in 2019 by a sequel, The Testaments, which was a global number one bestseller and won the Booker Prize. In 2020 she published Dearly, her first collection of poetry for a decade.
 
Atwood has won numerous awards including the Arthur C. Clarke Award for Imagination in Service to Society, the Franz Kafka Prize, the Peace Prize of the German Book Trade, the PEN USA Lifetime Achievement Award and the Dayton Literary Peace Prize. In 2019 she was made a member of the Order of the Companions of Honour for services to literature. She has also worked as a cartoonist, illustrator, librettist, playwright and puppeteer. She lives in Toronto, Canada. View titles by Margaret Atwood

Other Books by this Author

  • Old Babes in the Wood
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  • Burning Questions
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  • The Testaments
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  • The Handmaid's Tale (Graphic Novel)
    The Handmaid's Tale (Graphic Novel)
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  • The Bad News
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  • Hag-Seed
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  • The Heart Goes Last
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  • Dire Cartographies
    Dire Cartographies
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    $0.99 US
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    Sep 08, 2015
  • Stone Mattress
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  • MaddAddam
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  • The MaddAddam Trilogy Bundle
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  • Moral Disorder: A Story
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  • In Other Worlds
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  • Good Bones and Simple Murders
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  • The Year of the Flood
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    Jul 27, 2010
  • Moral Disorder and Other Stories
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    978-0-385-72164-6
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    Feb 12, 2008
  • The Tent
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  • The Handmaid's Tale
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  • Oryx and Crake
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    Mar 30, 2004
  • Negotiating with the Dead
    Negotiating with the Dead
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  • The Blind Assassin
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  • Dancing Girls
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    May 18, 1998
  • Bodily Harm
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    978-0-385-49107-5
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    Apr 13, 1998
  • Lady Oracle
    Lady Oracle
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    978-0-385-49108-2
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  • The Handmaid's Tale
    The Handmaid's Tale
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    Mar 16, 1998
  • Surfacing
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    978-0-385-49105-1
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  • The Edible Woman
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  • Wilderness Tips
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    978-0-385-49111-2
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  • Cat's Eye
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    978-0-385-49102-0
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    Jan 20, 1998
  • The Robber Bride
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    978-0-385-49103-7
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    Jan 20, 1998
  • Bluebeard's Egg
    Bluebeard's Egg
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    978-0-385-49104-4
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    Jan 20, 1998
  • Alias Grace
    Alias Grace
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    Margaret Atwood
    978-0-385-49044-3
    $17.00 US
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    Oct 13, 1997
  • Old Babes in the Wood
    Old Babes in the Wood
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    Margaret Atwood
    978-0-385-54907-3
    $30.00 US
    Hardcover
    Doubleday
    Mar 07, 2023
  • Burning Questions
    Burning Questions
    Essays and Occasional Pieces, 2004 to 2021
    Margaret Atwood
    978-0-593-55666-5
    $32.00 US
    Large Print
    Random House Large Print
    Mar 08, 2022
  • The Testaments
    The Testaments
    A Novel
    Margaret Atwood
    978-0-525-56262-7
    $16.95 US
    Paperback
    Anchor
    Sep 01, 2020
  • The Handmaid's Tale (Graphic Novel)
    The Handmaid's Tale (Graphic Novel)
    A Novel
    Margaret Atwood, Renee Nault
    978-0-385-53924-1
    $23.95 US
    Hardcover
    Nan A. Talese
    Mar 26, 2019
  • The Bad News
    The Bad News
    From Moral Disorder
    Margaret Atwood
    978-0-525-56640-3
    $0.99 US
    Ebook
    Vintage
    Oct 02, 2018
  • Hag-Seed
    Hag-Seed
    William Shakespeare's The Tempest Retold: A Novel
    Margaret Atwood
    978-0-8041-4131-4
    $17.00 US
    Paperback
    Hogarth
    May 16, 2017
  • The Heart Goes Last
    The Heart Goes Last
    A Novel
    Margaret Atwood
    978-1-101-91236-2
    $17.95 US
    Paperback
    Anchor
    Aug 09, 2016
  • Dire Cartographies
    Dire Cartographies
    The Roads to Ustopia and The Handmaid's Tale
    Margaret Atwood
    978-1-101-97200-7
    $0.99 US
    Ebook
    Anchor
    Sep 08, 2015
  • Stone Mattress
    Stone Mattress
    Nine Wicked Tales
    Margaret Atwood
    978-0-8041-7350-6
    $17.00 US
    Paperback
    Anchor
    Jun 23, 2015
  • MaddAddam
    MaddAddam
    Margaret Atwood
    978-0-307-45548-2
    $16.95 US
    Paperback
    Anchor
    Aug 12, 2014
  • The MaddAddam Trilogy Bundle
    The MaddAddam Trilogy Bundle
    The Year of the Flood; Oryx & Crake; MaddAddam
    Margaret Atwood
    978-1-101-87387-8
    $29.99 US
    Ebook
    Anchor
    Aug 12, 2014
  • Moral Disorder: A Story
    Moral Disorder: A Story
    Margaret Atwood
    978-1-101-87360-1
    $0.99 US
    Ebook
    Vintage
    Jul 29, 2014
  • In Other Worlds
    In Other Worlds
    SF and the Human Imagination
    Margaret Atwood
    978-0-307-74176-9
    $16.95 US
    Paperback
    Anchor
    Aug 21, 2012
  • Good Bones and Simple Murders
    Good Bones and Simple Murders
    Margaret Atwood
    978-0-307-79853-4
    $9.99 US
    Ebook
    Nan A. Talese
    Jun 08, 2011
  • The Year of the Flood
    The Year of the Flood
    Margaret Atwood
    978-0-307-45547-5
    $16.95 US
    Paperback
    Anchor
    Jul 27, 2010
  • Moral Disorder and Other Stories
    Moral Disorder and Other Stories
    Margaret Atwood
    978-0-385-72164-6
    $15.95 US
    Paperback
    Anchor
    Feb 12, 2008
  • The Tent
    The Tent
    Margaret Atwood
    978-1-4000-9701-2
    $14.00 US
    Paperback
    Anchor
    May 08, 2007
  • The Handmaid's Tale
    The Handmaid's Tale
    Introduction by Valerie Martin
    Margaret Atwood
    978-0-307-26460-2
    $28.00 US
    Hardcover
    Everyman's Library
    Oct 17, 2006
  • Oryx and Crake
    Oryx and Crake
    Margaret Atwood
    978-0-385-72167-7
    $17.00 US
    Paperback
    Anchor
    Mar 30, 2004
  • Negotiating with the Dead
    Negotiating with the Dead
    A Writer on Writing
    Margaret Atwood
    978-1-4000-3260-0
    $15.95 US
    Paperback
    Anchor
    Sep 09, 2003
  • The Blind Assassin
    The Blind Assassin
    A Novel
    Margaret Atwood
    978-0-385-72095-3
    $18.00 US
    Paperback
    Anchor
    Aug 28, 2001
  • Dancing Girls
    Dancing Girls
    Margaret Atwood
    978-0-385-49109-9
    $16.00 US
    Paperback
    Anchor
    May 18, 1998
  • Bodily Harm
    Bodily Harm
    Margaret Atwood
    978-0-385-49107-5
    $15.95 US
    Paperback
    Anchor
    Apr 13, 1998
  • Lady Oracle
    Lady Oracle
    Margaret Atwood
    978-0-385-49108-2
    $15.95 US
    Paperback
    Anchor
    Apr 13, 1998
  • The Handmaid's Tale
    The Handmaid's Tale
    A Novel
    Margaret Atwood
    978-0-385-49081-8
    $15.95 US
    Paperback
    Anchor
    Mar 16, 1998
  • Surfacing
    Surfacing
    Margaret Atwood
    978-0-385-49105-1
    $17.00 US
    Paperback
    Anchor
    Mar 16, 1998
  • The Edible Woman
    The Edible Woman
    Margaret Atwood
    978-0-385-49106-8
    $16.95 US
    Paperback
    Anchor
    Mar 16, 1998
  • Wilderness Tips
    Wilderness Tips
    Margaret Atwood
    978-0-385-49111-2
    $15.95 US
    Paperback
    Anchor
    Mar 16, 1998
  • Cat's Eye
    Cat's Eye
    Margaret Atwood
    978-0-385-49102-0
    $16.95 US
    Paperback
    Anchor
    Jan 20, 1998
  • The Robber Bride
    The Robber Bride
    Margaret Atwood
    978-0-385-49103-7
    $18.00 US
    Paperback
    Anchor
    Jan 20, 1998
  • Bluebeard's Egg
    Bluebeard's Egg
    Stories
    Margaret Atwood
    978-0-385-49104-4
    $15.95 US
    Paperback
    Anchor
    Jan 20, 1998
  • Alias Grace
    Alias Grace
    A Novel
    Margaret Atwood
    978-0-385-49044-3
    $17.00 US
    Paperback
    Anchor
    Oct 13, 1997
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