The Poet's Girl: A Novel of Emily Hale and T. S. Eliot

by Sara Fitzgerald

He was a graduate student at Harvard and she was an amateur actress when Tom Eliot first fell in love with Emily Hale. But that was before he set off for Oxford and published the poems that turned him into the international celebrity known as T. S. Eliot. Across two continents and over more than 40 years, Emily was a comforting force in the poet’s emotionally turbulent life, guarding their secrets in the hope that someday the two of them would marry.

In the spirit of The Paris Wife and Loving Frank, The Poet’s Girl brings to life another little-known woman behind a famous man. The novel by award-winning writer Sara Fitzgerald arrives as Hale’s own gift to Eliot scholars—the more than 1,000 letters the poet wrote her over the course of their lifetimes—is opened after a 50-year embargo. The Poet’s Girl tells the story of a woman whose own story will never be fully known: the woman behind one of Eliot’s most treasured poems and a woman whose greatest act of love was to bury her side of their story.

Genres: Historical Fiction, Fiction

377 pages, Paperback

Published January 8, 2020

About the author

Sara Fitzgerald is a retired journalist and an award-winning author of both non-fiction and fiction. She has been drawn to the stories of little-known women since she majored in history and journalism at the University of Michigan and wrote her senior history thesis on the flapper phenomenon. In 1972, she became the first woman to hold the title of editor in chief of The Michigan Daily.

She spent the bulk of her professional career as an editor and reporter, including 15 years at The Washington Post, and stints at what was then The St. Petersburg (Fla.) Times, The Miami Herald, the Akron Beacon-Journal, and National Journal magazine. At The Post, she served as editor of its first electronic edition in 1980, thus qualifying herself for membership in the Facebook group "I Was Online Before You Were Born." Those experiences led her to work for a trade association serving the online industry. and later, helping to found a consulting firm that helped schools and libraries take advantage of a federal program to get them connected to the Internet.

After retiring in 2005, she wrote a biography of a childhood heroine, Elly Peterson, one of the few women playing on the national political stage in mid-20th-century America. Her subsequent biography, "Elly Peterson: 'Mother' of the Moderates," was chosen as a 2012 Notable Book of the Year by the Library of Michigan and recognized with a State History Award by the Historical Society of Michigan.

Her love of writing, historical research and telling the stories of little-known women then drew her to the life of Emily Hale. In anticipation of the release in January 2020 of the more than one thousand letters that Hale's youthful love, the poet T. S. Eliot, wrote her over the course of their lifetimes, Fitzgerald decided to try to bring her to life in a novel that was released just as the letters were opened for scholarly research. That novel was published as The Poet's Girl. After the letters were opened, she continued her research. Her traditional biography of Hale, The Silenced Muse: Emily Hale, T. S. Eliot and the Role of a Lifetime, will be published in September 2024 by Rowman & Littlefield.

In July 2020, the University of Michigan Press published Conquering Heroines: How Women Fought Sex Bias at Michigan and Paved the Way for Title IX. The book chronicles the 1970 sex discrimination complaint that women filed against the University of Michigan. Their success--in the years immediately before the passage of Title IX--provided the model that overnight changed academic hiring practices across the country.

Fitzgerald hopes to continue to share the struggles and successes of a previous generation of women, stories that inspired her own life. She enjoys sharing her writing experiences in speeches, at writers' conferences and with book groups, whether in person or through virtual gatherings.

--Photo Credit: Karen Kasmauski

Reviews

[Louisa Treger · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hardly anything is known about TS Eliot’s relationship with Emily Hale, yet the two had a passionate affair, and it is believed that she was the inspiration behind some of his poetry. Fitzgerald has done their relationship great justice in this novel about love, betrayal, and thwarted dreams.

[Lorelei Brush · Rating 5 out of 5]

Prior to reading The Poet's Girl, I didn't know a thing about T.S. Eliot's marriages or lifelong friend Emily Hale. Now I have a completely different view of the life of this genius poet. Sara Fitzgerald has carefully researched this story of a decades-long friendship that Emily so wanted to be much more. All through the well written pages, the reader can feel Emily's longing and her hopes that Tom will come to his senses, realize the strength of their mutual bond, and ask her to marry him.

I liked this book a lot and recommend it, especially to readers interested in the women who have remained hidden behind more famous partners. We need to bring more of them into the light!

[Jean · Rating 5 out of 5]

“The Poet’s Girl” is an engaging, well-written novel based on a thoroughly researched true story. Too rarely do we hear about the significant supporting roles of women in the careers of famous men, such as T.S. Eliot, much less about the interesting and important lives of the women themselves. Ms. Fitzgerald succeeds magnificently in depicting Emily Hale, enabling the reader to share her hopes, disappointments, and efforts to create an independent life of purpose and meaning in the shadow of her lifelong relationship with Eliot. You will enjoy this book!

[Barbara · Rating 5 out of 5]

Me too type story involving TS Eliot

Emily Hale’s story is worth reading and I’d be interested in more details of this “romance”. The girls school scenarios were spot on!

[Helen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Emily Hale was a shadowy figure in the life of T.S. Eliot, but as we are now discovering, his longing for and memories of her inspired some of his best work. Although he was clearly enamored of her, when he went off to England, he married someone else, a move that turned out to be a disaster. However, he wouldn't divorce his wife and Hale was willing to take whatever crumbs he was willing to toss her way, so their relationship continued. No spoilers here, but if you didn't already know that Eliot was a jerk, you will after reading this book.

Sara Fitzgerald uses extensive research and her imagination to delve into Hale's life, one of New England privilege, but also of loneliness and thwarted dreams. Hale (1881-1969) was a talented amateur actor who taught and produced plays at girl's schools and women's colleges while carrying a torch for Eliot. One of the saddest things about her story is that such an intellectually gifted woman never had the chance to get a college degree. That clearly limited her opportunities for advancement, while working surrounded by women limited her opportunities to get to know other men who might have offered her more than Eliot.

The book brings to life scenes of a bygone era and also includes some of the notables with whom Hale had contact, including poets e.e. cummings and Robert Frost, actor Anthony Perkins and philosopher Bertrand Russell.

We'll certainly be reading more about Hale as scholars pore through the more than 1,000 letters that Eliot wrote her, recently unsealed at Princeton University's library, to which she donated them.

[Sandra · Rating 5 out of 5]

Emily Hale

I was a student at Abbot Academy when "Miss Hale" was there and have enjoyed reading this novel. Had no idea she has such an interesting life. Was at Abbot when T.S. Eliot came .knew Miss. Hale was the reason we had the privilege of hearing him speak , only thought he was a good friend. Did not learn until many years later he was more than that. A fun and revealing read !

[Amanda · Rating 3 out of 5]

a fictional account of the relationship between T.S. Eliot and Emily Hale. i found the pacing a bit slow, but otherwise i enjoyed. yes, yet another famous male poet takes a woman for granted. we've heard the tale many a time. what really interested me was the story of Emily Hale. i wish she hadn't wasted her life waiting for this guy, but she did manage to have an interesting life and perhaps somehow her involvement with him helped her? i dunno. we do get glimpses into his evolution from humble American nobody to British celebrity poet. but if he were left out of the book, i'd probably be even more interested, frankly.

[Marlene · Rating 3 out of 5]

Book is well written, yet I found perhaps I was not altogether interested in the subjects and thus took a long time to get through it.

[Sandie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lovely, poetic, deep

[Kerry · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mom recommended

[Julia Burke · Rating 2 out of 5]

Very interesting to learn about Emily hale and TS Elliot’s relationship—but felt it dragged on too long and it killed me to read Emily be so delulu lol but I get it’s historical fiction.