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The Poet's Wife

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The Poet's Wife

By: Judith Allnatt
Narrated by: Anna Bentinck
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About this listen

It is 1841. Patty Clare is married to John Clare: peasant poet, genius, and madman. Travelling home one day, Patty is shocked to find her husband sitting at the side of the road, having absconded from a lunatic asylum. Delighted to see him, she is devastated when it becomes clear that John's mental health has deteriorated, and he now thinks himself married twice: to both Patty and his childhood sweetheart. Patty still loves John deeply but he seems lost to her, obsessed with the idealised memory of another woman. She finds herself consumed with jealousy and struggling to cope with her unruly family.

Will she ever be able to conquer her own anger and hurt and reconcile with this man she now barely knows?

©2010 Judith Allnatt (P)2010 Isis Publishing Ltd Family Life Fiction Genre Fiction Literary Fiction Women's Fiction
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This is an absolute gem. It follows the fortunes of Patty, wife of the peoples' poet John Clare as she comes to terms with her husband's mental illness. Set in the beautifully evoked Northamptonshire countryside and so well researched, Allnatt's writing sings from the page and you cannot help but be drawn in to Patty's daily struggles, hopes and fears as she battles difficult circumstances, family dramas and her own wounded heart. Beautifully written and read! I loved it!

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