"'On academic rivalry and obsession, Byatt is delicious. On the nature of possession, the lover by the beloved, the biographer by his subject, she is profound,' said 'The Sunday Times' (London)....The novel traces a pair of young academics, Roland Michell and Maud Bailey, as they uncover a clandestine love affair between two long-dead Victorian poets. Interwoven in a mesmerizing pastiche are love letters and fairy tales, extracts from biographies and scholarly accounts, creating a sensuous and utterly delightful novel of ideas and passions...."
|
