Book description
After a lifetime's struggle with alcohol, critical neglect and
depression, in 1840 the nature poet John Clare is incarcerated. The
asylum, in London's Epping Forest, is run on the reformist principles of
occupational therapy. At the same time, the young Alfred Tennyson, moves
nearby and became entangled in the life of the asylum. This historically
accurate, intensely lyrical novel, describes the asylum's closed world
and Nature's paradise outside the walls: Clare's dream of home, of
redemption, of escape. Adam Foulds was born in 1974, took a Creative
Writing MA at the University of East Anglia and now lives in South
London. His first novel, The Truth About These Strange Times, was
published in 2007 and his book-length narrative poem, The Broken Word,
the following year. He was named the Sunday Times Young Writer of the
Year in 2008.
