[In 16th century European society] Marriage was the triumphal arch through which women, almost without exception, had to pass in order to reach the public eye. And after marriage followed, in theory, the total self-abnegation of the woman.

Dame Antonia Margaret Caroline Fraser DBE (born 27 August 1932) née Pakenham is an Anglo-Irish author of history novels biographies and detective fiction best known as Lady Antonia Fraser. She is the widow of Harold Pinter (1930–2008) the 2005 Nobel Laureate in Literature and prior to her husband's death was also known as Antonia Pinter.