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 Queen Elizabeth II, the novel revolves around a play about Elizabeth I of England. The novel has strong use of symbolism, which the New York Times called "overloaded", that points towards Elizabeth I. The novel is the first of a quartet, followed by Still Life (1985), Babel Tower (1996), and A Whistling Woman (2002).