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Learwife

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Learwife

By: J.R. Thorp
Narrated by: Juliet Stevenson
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AN OBSERVER BEST DEBUT NOVELIST OF 2021
'Dreamlike and haunting' The Times

'I am the queen of two crowns, banished fifteen years, the famed and gilded woman, bad-luck baleful girl, mother of three small animals, now gone. I am fifty-five years old. I am Lear’s wife. I am here.'

Word has come. Care-bent King Lear is dead, driven mad and betrayed. His three daughters too, broken in battle. But someone has survived: Lear’s queen. Exiled to a nunnery years ago, written out of history, her name forgotten. Now she can tell her story.

Though her grief and rage may threaten to crack the earth open, she knows she must seek answers. Why was she sent away in shame and disgrace? What has happened to Kent, her oldest friend and ally? And what will become of her now, in this place of women? To find peace she must reckon with her past and make a terrible choice – one upon which her destiny, and that of the entire abbey, rests.

Giving unforgettable voice to a woman whose absence has been a tantalising mystery, Learwife is a breathtaking novel of loss, renewal and how history bleeds into the present.

 Genre Fiction Historical Fiction Literary Fiction Medieval Fiction Royalty Middle Ages Tear-jerking
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Critic reviews

"Poetic . . . Distinctive and compelling . . . Thorp’s poignant and surprising narrative allows a character absent from the original play to obtain her long overdue agency"
"Seductive . . . Gorgeous"
"Gorgeously written . . . artful and moving . . . a beautiful triumph"
"Thorp’s vivid debut novel gives voice to one of fiction’s most conspicuously absent women . . . Lyrical . . . Thorp's distinctive style is heady and evocative . . . Learwife slots into a strong alternative canon of feminist retellings of classic stories"
"Original, intriguing . . . Thorp’s novel is beautifully written in rich, imaginative prose"
"

The wife of King Lear is given a powerful voice in this haunting narrative of her life . . . The writing in this novel is pitch-perfect: lyrical, imaginative and there to savour . . . Fascinating and heart-wrenching

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"This vivid reimagining of King Lear’s wife shows Shakespearean scholars what they are missing . . . An original and highly accomplished debut that reimagines the life of a woman written out of literary history . . . A fresh perspective on an age-old tale . . . With Learwife, Thorp also joins the ranks of authors such as Pat Barker, Natalie Haynes and Madeline Miller, who have in recent times successfully depicted female characters omitted from myth and literary history . . . Thorp is a stylish writer, who blends old and new worlds in prose that is elegant, rhythmic and innovative"
"Thorp’s prose is sweepingly lyrical; studded with jewels, wrapped in rich fabrics, blooming with resonant images: light of all sorts – sun, moon, torches, conflagration; the changing face of water. She finds mystery in the everyday, locates the poison that lurks within"
"Tells the story of King Lear’s wife in a blistering reimagination . . . A must for fans of Margaret Atwood, Sarah Waters, Pat Barker and Natalie Haynes"
"The chronicle of love, rage and grief that Shakespeare never wrote"
All stars
Most relevant
I really enjoyed this book. The descriptive writing really drew you into the the life of Lear's wife in exile and her past life as wife to two kings.
Beautifully read.

draws you in

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Though unusual and rich in words, the pace is so slow that it is sometimes stationary.

unusual and rich in wotds

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Superb delivery, interesting narrative gap explored - though predictable in places and I cannot enjoy one character's betrayal however credible, as that was the one redeemable person from Shakespeare's tragedy.

Woman more sinned against than sinning

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Interesting book about the mind of a woman who is cruel and harsh, and not likeable. Yet the author makes you relate to her. It is well written and well narrated at 1.2x, leaves you thinking. Not for everyone, and I think I might need to read it again when I'm older.

Not an adventure, but well narrated

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I have spent more than a waking day lost in a world with a dreamlike quality, in the mind of a woman I never thought to know. Juliet Stephenson was an inspired choice of reader, and brought Lear’s wife to life for me.
J R Thorp has a descriptive skill which is second to none, and, having finally left the world of the nunnery, a little piece of me is still keeping the garden within, so I can wander with the nuns and hear their chatter as they observe the beautifully drawn character of King Lear’s wife.
I await this author’s next work with great anticipation …

What a wonderful debut novel!

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