It did not win as many headlines as her debut, but this novel casts compelling light on women’s lives in 1960s Britain

It’s 50 years since the publication of Jerusalem the Golden by Margaret Drabble, her fourth novel and the winner of the James Tait Black prize in 1967.

Margaret Drabble is an important, thought-provoking novelist; she has edited two editions of the Oxford Companion to English Literature and is also a biographer of note. She is worth reading at any time. Even so, I’m aware that this is one of the quieter literary anniversaries of 2017. A few readers may be wondering why we’re commemorating this book. But if you are perplexed, that’s all the more reason to stick with us. I’m hoping we’ll show that there’s a strong case for saying that Jerusalem the Golden deserves to be at least as well read as its more famous predecessor, The Millstone.

Rereading: Jerusalem the Golden Read more

The anniversary is also significant because this novel provides such an interesting way-marker in our culture. As Lisa Allardice explained this article, Drabble is cautious about claiming she was writing explicitly feminist novels so much as “writing about the world around her and her own experiences as a young woman”. Allardice quotes her saying: “When I started writing, there was no women’s movement … Feminist criticism was born in 1968 precisely.” In which case, an unapologetically frank novel about the female experience published in 1967 seems all the more significant. As does the fact that this was a book touching on sexual liberation published so close to the so-called Summer of Love.

And if all that isn’t enough, we might also be able to take the opportunity to look at another of Drabble’s other novels later in the month. Many of them are admirably short and there are 20 to choose from. That’s right: 20. Not bad for an author who claimed she never really wanted to be a writer: “I didn’t want to. I just happened to write a novel when I was pregnant and had nothing to do.”

While I’m quoting, this contemporary review from the New York Times might also encourage you to read the book:

The author is an accomplished stylist who has been highly praised. Jerusalem the Golden says rather more than it would appear to do on a cursory reading. Which makes it all the more unfortunate that the book contains misprints galore. The final one tells us that the author, a former actress, has appeared with the Royal Shakespeare Company at ‘Strafford’.

I’m curious to check if the current edition has fixed the error. And happily, we can, because thanks to Penguin we have copies of the novel to give to the first five people in the UK to post “I want a copy please”, along with a nice, constructive suggestion in the comments section below. If you’re lucky enough to be one of the first to comment, email Phill Langhorne with your address (phill.langhorne@theguardian.com) – we can’t track you down ourselves. Be nice to him, too.