Hedda Gabler and Other Plays

Nov 11, 2025 5:58 PM

Author:Henrik Ibsen,Una Ellis-Fermor

In these three unforgettably intense plays, Henrik Ibsen explores the problems of personal and social morality that he perceived in the world around him and, in particular, the complex nature of truth. The Pillars of the Community (1877) depicts a corrupt shipowner’s struggle to hide the sins of his past at the expense of another man’s reputation, while in The Wild Duck (1884) an idealist, believing he must tell the truth at any cost, destroys a family by exposing the lie behind his friend’s marriage. And Hedda Gabler (1890) portrays an unhappily married woman who is unable to break free from the conventional life she has created for herself, with tragic results for the entire family.

Reviews

Manda Scott has created a fictional universe all her own, but close enough to our reality for it both to warm and break our hearts. Breathtakingly good, it reveals the best and worst in all of us

—— Val McDermid

The best in the current crop of novels about Rome, its empire and its victims ... never sentimental and always tough-minded

—— Roz Kaveney , Independent

Every so often, a book comes along that totally remoulds a historical figure for our own times ... massively impressive

—— Jane Jakeman , Scotland on Sunday

A powerful novel, alive with the love, deceit, wisdom and the heroics of humanity

—— Jean M. Auel

An extraordinary work ... exciting and intriguing, taking you into a world where unbelievable danger and cruelty sit side by side with magic, spirituality and profound human relationships

—— Jenni Murray

Utterly convincing and compelling ... A stunning feat of the imagination and an absolute must-read

—— Steven Pressfield

Denys Johnson-Davies...the leading Arabic-English translator of our time

—— Edward Said

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