Customer Reviews

Passion: A Novel of the Romantic Poets

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This is a very good novel about the great poets of the Regency years - Byron, Shelley and Keats, and told from a very different perspective - that of the women from different walks of life and social standings, and who loved them. Some are quite famous in their own right (we have "Frankenstein" thanks to Mary Shelley), some, like Lady Caroline Lamb were considered quite scandalous, others lived far less prominent lives.

However, it is not a novel without flaws. There is quite a bit of focus on Fanny Brawne, who loved Keats, and yet that great poet doesn't enter the picture till quite late in the novel, and only briefly. Sometimes the novel can be seen as a little disjointed - some chapters chop and change between the characters and you have read some way before you realise who we are reading about.

And yet there are times when it is a beautiful book, and you feel quite drawn into the loves and lives of these beautiful and ultimately doomed people.

This is not a romantic novel by any stretch of the imagination, and indeed it seems there was very little romance in the loves of these great poets. But they certainly had strong women, and it is these women, and how they coped with the places in history, that makes it a good read.

As a spin off, it would be good to have a volume of poetry handy - I found that I wanted to look at Byron's "Childe Harold" on more than one occasion!

Focusing on the women in the lives of the romantic poets--Byron, Shelley, and Keats--rather than on the poets themselves, Jude Morgan recreates the years from 1812 - 1824, during which time Mary Godwin, Augusta Leigh, Caroline Lamb, Claire Clairmont, and Fanny Brawne fall in love, encourage the poets in some of their finest work, and ultimately, learn to cope with the poets' premature deaths. Mary Godwin, daughter of journalist/philosopher William Godwin and early feminist Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin, is the linchpin of this biographical novel. Falling in love with Percy Bysshe Shelley at age sixteen, Mary defies convention by running away to the continent with Shelley when his wife refuses to grant him a divorce.

In contrast to Shelley, Lord Byron has many lovers. Augusta Leigh, his half-sister and the wife of George Leigh, is terrified that her feelings for Byron will become public. Caroline Lamb, married to William Lamb, conducts a long affair with him, pursuing him even after he marries her cousin, Annabella Milbanke (mother of his daughter Ada). Claire Clairmont, stepsister of Mary Godwin Shelley, becomes his lover in Italy and the mother of another daughter, Allegra.

The story of Fanny Brawne and John Keats does not unfold until almost the end of the novel. As Keats seems not to have much direct connection with Byron and Shelley here, and as Fanny is far more conventional in personality than any of the other women, the addition of this story line feels somewhat disconnected and is not integrated into most of the action.

Author Jude Morgan recreates conversations and fleshes out the daily lives of these characters, creating scenes that are often dramatic and sometimes moving. His careful attention to detail and immense research create a full picture of the attitudes of the times, and the context in which these women lived. With five female characters, however, he sometimes changes focus unexpectedly, and the reader must pay careful attention to detail to figure out who is who in the changing scenes. Occasionally even the point of view changes unexpectedly--from the third person to first person.

For those interested in the romantic poets, Morgan's novel offers many new insights and fascinating glimpses of early nineteenth century life, as romanticism emerges from the neoclassicism of the past. He assumes, however, that the reader will bring some knowledge of the poets and their works to the novel, spending little time discussing the works themselves, and concentrating on relationships instead. Mary Shelley, Augusta Leigh, Caroline Lamb, and Claire Clairmont, all early feminists, flout convention and sacrifice all for love, often behaving more romantically than the poets. Carefully researched, Passion offers fascinating information within an uneven narrative structure. n Mary Whipple

Although this is an imperfect novel, Jude Morgan has done an amazing job of bringing the three great Romantic poets, Byron, Shelley and Keats, to life. I have studied their biographies and works extensively, and was happily surprised by the accuracy with which they are portrayed in this book. The invented dialogue, especially that of Byron, enlivens the book and makes it more compelling than a conventional biography. Yes, the book is choppy and sometimes hard to follow, and it is not structurally sound. But the characters are always interesting, and I wanted to keep on reading because of the inherent drama of the stories and the period. What I disliked from the beginning was the odd sentence structure and incessant use of colons after a single word at the beginning of sentences. That's the English teacher in me wishing for clarity and correctness. However, overall the book is a masterpiece of presentation of thrillingly unique characters in an age of romantic idealism.

Helen Bennett

At 663 pages this is an extremely long book - but then it more or less has to be, for Morgan's huge ambition is that it should describe the lives and complex relationships of no fewer than seven central characters: Augusta Leigh, half-sister of Lord Byron, with whom she had an incestuous relationship; Caroline Lamb, wife of the future Prime Minister Lord Melbourne and who also had an affaire with Byron; Claire Claremont, who bore one illegitimate daughter to Byron and (possibly)another to Shelley (though in this novel the suggestion is that the mother was not Claire but a nursemaid for Shelley's other children); Claire's step-sister Mary, both of whom eloped with the then still married Shelley and lived in an uneasy ménage à trois with him, even after Shelley and Mary were able to marry; and Fanny Brawne, engaged to Shelley's friend John Keats. (This last relationship, touching though it is, is rather marginal to the intricate web that connects the other characters in the book.)

The lives of these women, from childhood onwards, are told in alternating sections, and it is only quite late in the novel that one gets a sense of how they are all interconnected. Augusta, Caroline and Mary (and Byron himself) each have a complicated network of relatives, and the book would certainly have benefitted from a series of family trees, which the reader has to construct for himself. Their stories are told against a richly detailed social and political background of the period (from the 1780s to the 1820s), including such information as that the gentry above-stairs had the rooms lit by candles in the evening, while below-stairs they were lit by rushes - that sort of thing.

The women in this novel have all grown up in the period of the Enlightenment and the French Revolution. They are women of great character, sparklingly articulate and willing to be unconventional. `Society' disapproved when their unconventional behaviour was too public (their parents' and even their grandparents' generation had themselves challenged conventions in their time), but the disapproval was nothing like as stifling as it would be during the next two or three generations, in the Victorian Age - when the `cant' so excoriated by Byron got the upper hand: the thesis also of Ben Wilson's new book `Decency and Disorder, 1789 to 1837'. And yet the women do suffer, not so much from society's disapproval which they do not much mind, but Caroline, Augusta and Claire for having given their hearts to Byron, and Mary for having given her heart to Shelley. Shelley emerges in this novel as having given a soft heart to too many women; Byron as possibly having loved Augusta but really none of the other women of whose infatuation with him he took advantage, only to cast them off when he had tired of them. He really was a shocker; but one comes to understand how he was driven by his daemon: at one point he says that the first thing he truly hates is himself.

At the end we have sorrow upon sorrow as deaths fall like hammer-blows: the deaths of young children, and the early deaths of the three men: Keats, then Shelley, then Byron. And the women are left to mourn. But they cherish the memories of the men, and there is some comfort in that. Morgan is good throughout - but in these last pages he excels himself.

Some readers may be put off a little by his somewhat idiosyncratic style: in the childhood chapters verging occasionally on archness; many sentences without main verbs; shifts between the historic present and the past tense; an occasional pastiche of 19th century prose; sometimes the characters address the reader directly; - but the writing is hugely intelligent and always pacey; the descriptive writing is very good, and the dialogues and the delineation of characters are very well done. The way the relationship between Byron and Augusta is portrayed is an especial highlight of the book.

The historical facts of all these relationships are truly `stranger than fiction'. This historical fiction is very close to the historical facts, and it makes for a compelling and informative read.

I've been recommending Morgan's wonderful novel to everyone I know who might find it interesting. Despite the subtitle (A Novel of the Romantic Poets), Passion focuses more on the women in their lives. Morgan creates believeable personalities for Mary Shelley, Augusta Leigh, Lady Caroline Lamb, Claire Clairmont, and Fanny Brawne, allowing us to se inside their minds, and he manages to avoid the melodramatic drek that so many novels about the Romantics wallow in. I did not find it hard to follow (as other reviewers mentioned). Yes, the narrative shift among the points of view of the women, but these passages are linked by the men's admitation for one another and their shared passion for poetry and revolution. I was compelled to read Morgan's The King's Touch (not quite as good) and am waiting for Indiscretion and Symphoney to become available in the US.

Jude Morgan has just become a favorite author of mine. Her novels are engaging from the first sentence, and continue to be just as engaging throughout the novel.

I am generally not a fan of short stories or multiple stories within one book. In "Passion", there are 4 stories being told simultaneously, and it did not bother me at all. They flowed together, without blending of details. Each character has her own unique personality, which stands out, helping to keep each character's tale separate. Unlike most books that have several story lines going on, "Passion" was able to make each story engaging and interesting, and not leave the reader at a cliffhanger at the end of each chapter.

I was not too familiar with any of the characters, save Mary Shelley and Lord Byron, and mostly by name. Jude Morgan managed to capture a unique perspective on her life and feelings without fictionalizing too much.

In general, this novel was one of the best I have read in the last few years. It was not predictable or historical romance, which is what I had been reading as of late, but instead I got a pleasant surprise of a well written first novel. Buy this book, I do not think you will be disappointed!

This book was so good I was amazed. I enjoyed every page of it and hated for it to end. It was that amazing. I doubt there's been a novel about the Romantics that ever got so much right and made its reader feel so completely in the time and place of its setting. This author knew her subject material, and brought the past vividly to life. I truly love this book!

Jude Morgan's Passion begins as Mary Wollstonecraft, mother of Mary Shelley, attempts to commit suicide by drowning herself. The rest of the novel unfolds as the lives of the Romantic poets Byron, Shelley, and Keats are told through the voices of the women who loved them: Lady Caroline Lamb, Augusta Byron Leigh, Mary Shelley, and Fanny Brawne. At times the stories entwine as the women move in the same circles, and ultimately, each is left behind as the man she loved dies before her. How each woman resolves the issue of forging an identity separate from her lover is alluded to in the epilogue, but largely left unwritten.

Jude Morgan not only manages to bring the poets and their lovers alive, but he also manages to do so with painstaking research and attention to historical detail. I was transported to another time where I knew and loved all of these people. Much of Morgan's research has come from primary sources--letters, memoirs, diaries, and the like, for much of it reads exactly like the accounts from which they were drawn, but somehow sketched out in sharper relief. My favorite characters were probably Byron, Caroline Lamb, and Fanny Brawne, but truthfully, I enjoyed meeting everyone (although I kind of hated Claire Clairmont, which may have been Morgan's intention). I felt wrung out with sadness as each of the poets died--the inevitable conclusion I knew would happen, but that I was still inexplicably unprepared for.

If I have one criticism of the book, it's that it felt a little too unwieldy at times. Morgan never manages to lose control of the story, however, and even switching narrators and voices is no trouble. The reader can follow Morgan down each path. Keats's story suffers the most in this large tale, while Byron and Shelley loom large on the page. Perhaps that is also a deeper message one can glean from the story--it was also thus, no?

What a wonderful book. I would give it infinity stars if I could. I certainly can't think of too many other books I've read that have had me doing as much research and reading about its subjects as this one. A new favorite. The title is perfect in all senses of the word, but don't let the cover scare you off--it's pretty, but makes the book seem too frivolous and light. Mary Shelley seems to capture the essence of this book in one sentence: "How can you love someone so much, and not understand them at all?" (383).

The difference between genre fiction and literary fiction, Stephen King says, is that genre fiction is about ordinary people in extraordinary situations. Literary fiction, however, is about extraordinary people in ordinary situations. This is a definition I like because it is both how I read and how I write. But what happens when extraordinary people live through extraordinary times? One result is Passion: A Novel of the Romantic Poets by Jude Morgan.

Set against the backdrop of the French Revolution and the Napoleonic Wars, Jude Morgan introduces us to the Romantic poets, Lord Byron, Percy Bysshe Shelley, and John Keats as seen through the eyes of the women who loved them, and weaves a seductive, intriguing narrative thay incorporates fact with rumor and imagination all set in a frame of the times in which they lived and the society they took such great joy in defying.

The story opens with the life of the early feminist Mary Woolstoncraft who was the mother of Mary Godwin, the second wife of Shelley and the author of "Frankenstein, or The Modern Prometheus". Morgan takes his time developing the society and the historical context in which Mary Godwin, and her young step-sister Jane (she later changed her name to Claire Calirmont), who became one of Byron's lovers, were born and lived. We are also introduced to Augusta Leigh, Lord Byron's older half-sister, Lady Caroline Lamb, Byron's most notorious mistress, and Fanny Brawne, who would fall in love with Keats in the last years of his brief life.

The story is told through multiple, shifting perspectives and, I'll confess, it becomes a little difficult to know whose eyes we are seeing through at times but once I adjusted to this device, it was easy enough to be aware of it and adjust along with the narrative. Great detail is paid not only to the politics of the era but also the social customs and the philosophical ideals of the various characters. There are times when this becomes a bit much but far more times when it is absolutely fascinating. Gradually, Morgan builds a complex tapestry of connections and inter-connections that, much to my amazement, makes sense of the clash of temperaments and emotional entanglements in which this wildly disparate group of people lived.

Lord Byron was, unsurprisingly, the most colorful character - in the story as he was, doubtless, in life. His affairs with women like Caroline Lamb and Claire Clairmont caused him no end of aggravation and his brief marriage to Annabella were tempestuous but, in Morgan's story anyway, the one great love of his life is his half-sister Augusta, the married mother of seven children, who never found anything but love and compassion for her notorious brother.

From the minute Mary Godwin meets the dreamy, idealistic, liberal Shelley she loves everything about him. His generosity of spirit and commitment to absolute freedom both attracts and frustrates her especially when her step-sister turns to him when her affair with Byron comes to crashing end. Through their life together in England and then in Italy, Mary adores Shelley and tries to emulate his ideals but, especially after the deaths of two of their children and a miscarriage, she blames herself for not being evolved enough for his idealism.

John Keats, whose very brief life does not leave a lot of room for story, appears late in the over 500 pages of the book but his love for Fanny Brawne, and hers for him, is sweet, poignant and tragic.

Though all the particulars of the lives of these people can be easily obtained just by going to Wikipedia, Jude Morgan has brought them all vibrantly to life filled with emotions, thoughts and struggles to which contemporary readers can easily relate. This is an extraordinary book - a bit long in places and occasionally hard to follow - but well worth the effort.

Don't be deterred by this book's length or its small print -- it's a fascinating chronicle of several of the major Romantic poets, told through the eyes of the women with whom their lives were entangled. Indeed, the only part of this excellent book -- which captures the spirit of London and the continent during the early decades of the 19th century -- I didn't like was the rather lurid cover, which gives it the impression of being a bodice-ripper rather than a compelling and dramatic novel obviously based on exhaustive research. (Think Hilary Mantel, not Barbara Cartland, despite the cover...)

I had already read the even-better The King's Touch when I started reading this, and it just confirmed my impression that Morgan is one of the brightest lights in historical fiction. It's an ambitious undertaking, but nonetheless never feels ponderous or overly scholarly. Morgan's writing is excellent, and he has somehow managed to master different 'voices' for all the different women who feature here, and different dialogue formats. Lady Caroline Lamb speaks directly to the reader, in such a breathless and excited tone that you can certainly imagine her referring to Byron as "mad, bad and dangerous to know" -- and being equally dangerous herself. On the other hand, the Lamb/Melbourne family's interactions are scripted as if they were part of the dialogue from a play -- reflective of the nature of the family's relationships, where appearance matters above all else. Then there is Byron's wife, who sounds for all the world like an intellectual yet emotionally constipated refugee from Anthony Trollope's Barsetshire. And Morgan does it all through careful adjustments in his style...

The core of the book deals with two characters: Mary Godwin, daughter of two scandalous parents (of whom her mother, Mary Wollstonecraft, is the better known today) who herself scandalized society by running off with the married poet, Percy Bysshe Shelley. (Yup, that would be Frankenstein's Mary Shelley.) Mary, as portrayed by Morgan, emerges from the shadow of Shelley's life and that of her own fictional creation as a fascinating character, juggling domestic considerations with grand passion and literary creation. There is Byron, and all his innamorati -- Lady Caroline Lamb; Mary's stepsister, Claire Clairmont; and most infamously, his own half-sister, Augusta Leigh. The outlier -- although just as well-crafted -- is the relationship between John Keats and Fanny Brawne, which is more loosely connected to the others, and can't really be compared with the longer and more complex relationships. That part of the book is the one bit that doesn't really 'fit', and its the only reason I've rated this 4.5 stars and rounded it down rather than up. This part of the narrative, while also compelling, could have been left aside, making a long and complex narrative a little more manageable and focused.

Morgan's theme is (surprise, surprise) passion, and the extent to which grand passion is capable of distorting one's life. The Romantic poets focused on passionate themes in their poetry, so it's intriguing to explore the idea of passion from another perspective.

This book falls into my 'thumping good read' category, but it's also a great way for someone to get a feel for the period and the personalities. Highly recommended to anyone who is interested in the period or the personalities, but wants something a bit more lively than a biography. I'm now really looking forward to reading Morgan's latest, which focuses on the Bronte family.