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A tender and engrossing historical novel about the unlikely love affair between two great 19th-century poets, Robert Browning and Elizabeth Barrett.
On a bleak January day in 1845, a poet who had been confined to her room for four years by recurrent illness received a letter from a writer she secretly idolized but had never seen. "I love your verses with all my heart, dear Miss Barrett," Robert Browning wrote, "and I love you too."
Elizabeth Barrett was ecstatic. She was famous for her poetry but completely cut off from the kind of international travel that Browning used to fuel his obscure, unsuccessful, innovative poems, one of which was written from a murderer's point of view. They began an affectionate correspondence, but Elizabeth kept delaying a visit. What would happen when he saw her in person? What was Robert really like? Could she persuade her father and brothers that he was honorable, even though she had never met his family? And what would happen if she gave in to Robert's wild proposal that they go to Italy and see if the sun could cure her?
McNeal brilliantly tells the story of how Robert and Elizabeth fell in love with each other's words and shocked her conservative, close-knit family and the literary world. Sensitively and lyrically written, as rich as the lovers' own poetry, The Swan's Nest will sweep up readers in the triumphant story of two people forced to choose between a safe, stable life and the love they felt for each other.
"McNeal capably evokes her protagonists' poetic sensibilities both with dialogue… and with her own lyrical descriptions… This insightful novel is a must for devotees of the romantics." ―Publishers Weekly
"This delicately rendered novel offers much that will appeal to fans of the Victorian poets." ―Booklist
"A moving, well-written novel and a fitting tribute to the power of love and poetry." ―Historical Novel Review
"You've Got Mail: Poring Over the Love Letters of Robert Browning and Elizabeth Barrett Browning" ―Literary Hub
"Laura McNeal is one of my favorite writers and The Swan's Nest is a stunning accomplishment. Assiduously researched, gorgeously brought to life, this literary love story will keep you up all night."
―Lily King, author of Five Tuesdays in Winter
"Compelling, convincing and richly woven, The Swan's Nest conjures the lives of two legendary poets with true drama and nuance. In McNeal's talented hands, we are intimately drawn into the age the Barrett-Browning's lived and loved in, with all of its cultural complexity; into the thorniness of well-meaning but destructive families, and into the fascinating and evocative entanglement of two peerless minds. Gorgeous and provocative storytelling. "
―Paula McLain, author of The Paris Wife and Circling the Sun
This information about The Swan's Nest was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Laura McNeal is the author of three other novels, including Dark Water, which was a finalist for the National Book Award in Young People's Literature. With her husband, Tom McNeal, she has collaborated on four novels, a picture book, two sons, and the restoration of a historic house. They live near San Diego.
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