The Virgin in the Garden is a 1978 realist novel by English novelist A. S. Byatt. Set during the same year as the coronation of Elizabeth II, the novel revolves around a play about Elizabeth I of England.^[1] The novel features a strong use of symbolism, which The New York Times called "overloaded", that points towards Elizabeth I.^[1] The novel is the first of a quartet featuring Frederica Potter, followed by Still Life (1985), Babel Tower (1996), and A Whistling Woman (2002).^[2]

The book features numerous flower metaphors and Byatt described the character of Marcus as "a self-portrait: somebody baffled by things being far too much and not fittable into any of the languages you were offered".^[3]

The New York Times describes the writing of "Byatt is essentially a fine, careful and very traditional storyteller."^[1]

In a 1998 interview with Philip Hensher, published in The Paris Review in 2001, Byatt commented on a piece which John Sutherland had written in The Bookseller recently claiming that The Virgin in the Garden was "completely unreadable, and that he and a colleague of his and mine at University College had a bet about whether any of them could finish it and none of them could! He actually published that. So I'm always deeply surprised when anyone says anybody is reading it".^[4]

• Dusinberre, Juliet (1 October 1982). "Forms of Reality in A. S. Byatt's The Virgin in the Garden". Critique: Studies in Contemporary Fiction. 24 (1): 55–62. doi:10.1080/00111619.1982.9937771. ISSN 0011-1619.
• Alfer, Alexa; Edwards De Campos, Amy J. (2010). "Writing the contemporary: The Virgin in the Garden and Still Life". A.S. Byatt: Critical Storytelling. Contemporary British Novelists. Manchester University Press. doi:10.7228/manchester/9780719066528.003.0003. ISBN 9780719066528.

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