Possession - A.S. Byatt

[LeMarchand]

I've just watched the movie (under duress ' but it turned out to be quite enjoyable), and have a few questions about the novel.

1: Was it full of the actual poems (a la Lord of the Rings)?

2: Was a reason given for the lack of physicality between Ash and his wife, and what was it? I could see that if she had miscarried in the past it might be unsafe for her to risk another pregnancy, but there are other things they could do, and I got the impression ' from the dialogue in the film ' that she just wasn't interested.

3: Was the novel it a bit more realistic in the depiction of how to handle old documents? Although I could understand the couple opening the 'doll letters' on the spot, I couldn't see the Museum guy allowing the box to be opened in uncontrolled conditions at the end.

4: Did it really take them that long to work out where the 'doll letters' were in the book? I mean, they were hardly likely to be where they first looked!

5: Was the 'epilogue' with Ash meeting the girl in the book? It makes sense that it was, but as there were no letters covering this meeting, it doesn't seem to 'fit'. (Though it made a touching finale to the movie).