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A Sultry Month: Scenes of London Literary Life in 1846
June 1846. As London swelters in a heatwave - sunstroke strikes, meat rots, ice is coveted - a glamorous coterie of writers and artists spend their summer wining, dining and opining.
With the ringletted 'face of an Egyptian cat goddess', Elizabeth Barrett is courted by her secret fiancé, the poet Robert Browning, who plots their elopement to Italy; Keats roams Hampstead Heath; Wordsworth visits the zoo; Dickens is intrigued by Tom Thumb; Tennyson plans a summer holiday; the Carlyles host parties for a visiting German novelist and suffer a marital crisis. But when the visionary painter Benjamin Robert Haydon commits suicide, they find their entwined lives spiralling around the tragedy . . .
One of the first-ever group biographies, Alethea Hayter's glorious 'A Sultry Month' > is a lively mosaic of archival riches inspired by the collages of the Pop Artists. A groundbreaking feat of creative non-fiction in 1965, her portrait of Victorian London's literati is just as vivid, witty and enticing today.
With the ringletted 'face of an Egyptian cat goddess', Elizabeth Barrett is courted by her secret fiancé, the poet Robert Browning, who plots their elopement to Italy; Keats roams Hampstead Heath; Wordsworth visits the zoo; Dickens is intrigued by Tom Thumb; Tennyson plans a summer holiday; the Carlyles host parties for a visiting German novelist and suffer a marital crisis. But when the visionary painter Benjamin Robert Haydon commits suicide, they find their entwined lives spiralling around the tragedy . . .
One of the first-ever group biographies, Alethea Hayter's glorious 'A Sultry Month' > is a lively mosaic of archival riches inspired by the collages of the Pop Artists. A groundbreaking feat of creative non-fiction in 1965, her portrait of Victorian London's literati is just as vivid, witty and enticing today.
284 pages, Paperback
First published April 1, 1965
17 people are currently reading
453 people want to read
About the author
Alethea Hayter
21 books8 followersHayter was the daughter of Sir William Goodenough Hayter, a legal adviser to the Egyptian government, and his wife, Alethea Slessor, daughter of a Hampshire rector. Her brother, another Sir William Goodenough Hayter, went on to become British ambassador to the Soviet Union and Warden of New College, Oxford, while her sister Priscilla Napier was a biographer.
Hayter spent her early years in Cairo, Egypt, in the years before the First World War, where the three Hayter children were well taught by a governess. The children’s lives changed dramatically when their father died, still in his fifties, and they returned to England in reduced circumstances. Alethea Hayter was only twelve years old. Her sister Priscilla later described their happy childhood in Cairo in her memoir A Late Beginner (1966). The three all won scholarships for their higher education. Hayter was educated at Downe House School, in Berkshire, then under the headship of its founder Olive Willis, and at Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford, where she arrived in 1929 and went on to graduate BA in modern history. Of her time at Oxford, Hayter later wrote "We were conventional and innocent, though we considered ourselves pioneering and revolutionary — not in politics, we were not much interested in them, but in our preferences in literature, the arts, social values... In our Oxford days, none of us could have boiled a potato, let alone made a soufflé, or would have known an azalea from a stinging nettle."
She never married.
Following her years at Oxford, Hayter was on the editorial staff of Country Life until 1938. During the Second World War she worked in postal censorship in London, Gibraltar, Bermuda, and Trinidad.
In 1945, she joined the British Council, and in 1952 was posted to Greece as an assistant Representative. In 1960, she went to Paris as Deputy Representative and assistant cultural attaché, and her apartment on the Île Saint-Louis became a meeting place for writers and artists. Her last British Council posting was as Representative to Belgium, and she retired in 1971.
She was a member of the governing bodies of the Old Vic and the Sadler's Wells Theatre and of the management committee of the Society of Authors.
Hayter spent her early years in Cairo, Egypt, in the years before the First World War, where the three Hayter children were well taught by a governess. The children’s lives changed dramatically when their father died, still in his fifties, and they returned to England in reduced circumstances. Alethea Hayter was only twelve years old. Her sister Priscilla later described their happy childhood in Cairo in her memoir A Late Beginner (1966). The three all won scholarships for their higher education. Hayter was educated at Downe House School, in Berkshire, then under the headship of its founder Olive Willis, and at Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford, where she arrived in 1929 and went on to graduate BA in modern history. Of her time at Oxford, Hayter later wrote "We were conventional and innocent, though we considered ourselves pioneering and revolutionary — not in politics, we were not much interested in them, but in our preferences in literature, the arts, social values... In our Oxford days, none of us could have boiled a potato, let alone made a soufflé, or would have known an azalea from a stinging nettle."
She never married.
Following her years at Oxford, Hayter was on the editorial staff of Country Life until 1938. During the Second World War she worked in postal censorship in London, Gibraltar, Bermuda, and Trinidad.
In 1945, she joined the British Council, and in 1952 was posted to Greece as an assistant Representative. In 1960, she went to Paris as Deputy Representative and assistant cultural attaché, and her apartment on the Île Saint-Louis became a meeting place for writers and artists. Her last British Council posting was as Representative to Belgium, and she retired in 1971.
She was a member of the governing bodies of the Old Vic and the Sadler's Wells Theatre and of the management committee of the Society of Authors.
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Displaying 1 - 23 of 23 reviews
September 16, 2022
First published in the 1960s, Alethea Hayter’s book has been hailed as a pioneering work of the group biography. Based on diaries, letters and memoirs, it’s organised by date, set over the June of 1846 in London, in the midst of an exceptionally hot summer. But although it features a broad cast of characters from poets Browning and Elizabeth Barrett to writers Jane and Thomas Carlyle, with cameos from a host of others, it really revolves around the life, and death by suicide, of the impoverished artist Benjamin Robert Haydon. And for me that was one of my main issues with this book, it’s not really so much about ‘literary life’ as Haydon’s, his crushing debts, and later his friends’ reactions to his death - I'm not a fan of the kind of art Haydon produced and his personal experiences, although tragic, didn't grip me. There are some marvellous details, scattered here and there, about London over the course of this oppressive summer: the airier fashions cobbled together to stop Victorian women from keeling over in the excessive heat; the mishaps of Jane Carlyle known for her prolific letter writing but also her numerous domestic accidents, even her dogs got caught up in her calamities, and Browning made a terrible impression on her by managing to burn her carpet. There are fascinating but brief accounts of the politics of the day, the stench of the sewers, and the terrible storm that finally interrupted the heatwave, after weeks of drought in areas like Kent. But despite these vivid anecdotes, I found the bulk of Hayter’s study just too dry and fragmented to hold my attention.
July 26, 2022
This is an early group biography, apparently written before the idea of such a sub-genre existed and was first published in 1965. It follows a group of London literati through a heatwave, from Thursday 18th June and Monday 13th July, 1846. It is now 2022, but a similar time of year, and London was having a heatwave when I was reading it, so it felt quite apt.
There are many people who readers will recognise, from Charles Dickens, to Thomas Carlyle and his wife, Jane, but the central characters are Elizabeth Barrett, Robert Browning and the artist, Benjamin Robert Haydon. Much of the book revolves around Haydon's debts, leaving him afraid that he would be arrested for debt and his possessions taken, leading him to deliver lots of his paintings, personal papers and other possessions, with Miss Barrett.
In the heat, we have Elizabeth Barrett and Robert Browning, secretly engaged and planning to elope, the visit to London of the German novelist Grafin Ida Hahn-Hahn, people queing to see General Tom Thumb, rather than visiting Haydon's art exhibition and a city full of gossip, intrigue, excitement and despair. This is a really good portrait of London and of those writers and authors who inhabited that time and place. I am glad that this was republished and that I had the chance to read this and would definitely like to read more by the author.
There are many people who readers will recognise, from Charles Dickens, to Thomas Carlyle and his wife, Jane, but the central characters are Elizabeth Barrett, Robert Browning and the artist, Benjamin Robert Haydon. Much of the book revolves around Haydon's debts, leaving him afraid that he would be arrested for debt and his possessions taken, leading him to deliver lots of his paintings, personal papers and other possessions, with Miss Barrett.
In the heat, we have Elizabeth Barrett and Robert Browning, secretly engaged and planning to elope, the visit to London of the German novelist Grafin Ida Hahn-Hahn, people queing to see General Tom Thumb, rather than visiting Haydon's art exhibition and a city full of gossip, intrigue, excitement and despair. This is a really good portrait of London and of those writers and authors who inhabited that time and place. I am glad that this was republished and that I had the chance to read this and would definitely like to read more by the author.
October 30, 2021
REREADING FOR NOTES
I enjoyed this book more the second time I read than the first. Notes done. I almost wish I had lived in the neighborhood with these people. It was a really hot summer in London 1846. I often found myself reading it aloud and thinking, omg, I don't want this book to end. Laughing. I was there, in London, in my head and I just couldn't let go. Hayter (who is now dead) has written other books and I am going to find them and read them. At the center of this story, weaved all the way through, is a tragedy unfolding, the mental decline and suicide of Benjamin Robert Haydon, an artist. He was dogged by debt for years and years and years. Had three children and I know he struggled. And it was so hot that summer. (BTW: Elizabeth Barrett ran off and married Robert Browning) Haydon tried to shoot himself and didn't die and then he cut his throat. Poor thing.
I finished this last night after months of reading on it. Not my first read, but the first time I have read it in a long time. Love this book. It's one of those sort of novelized biographies, this time about a group of artists and writers in 19th century London. The Brownings, etc. It's biography in novel form. I have corrected my first comments because I said it was fiction and it turns out, it is not fiction and I was told so in a comment and I stand correctly, gladly. I am rereading to make notes for research. It's a gorgeous piece of work and I think it was the first of its kind and influenced by Capote's form In Cold Blood.
I enjoyed this book more the second time I read than the first. Notes done. I almost wish I had lived in the neighborhood with these people. It was a really hot summer in London 1846. I often found myself reading it aloud and thinking, omg, I don't want this book to end. Laughing. I was there, in London, in my head and I just couldn't let go. Hayter (who is now dead) has written other books and I am going to find them and read them. At the center of this story, weaved all the way through, is a tragedy unfolding, the mental decline and suicide of Benjamin Robert Haydon, an artist. He was dogged by debt for years and years and years. Had three children and I know he struggled. And it was so hot that summer. (BTW: Elizabeth Barrett ran off and married Robert Browning) Haydon tried to shoot himself and didn't die and then he cut his throat. Poor thing.
I finished this last night after months of reading on it. Not my first read, but the first time I have read it in a long time. Love this book. It's one of those sort of novelized biographies, this time about a group of artists and writers in 19th century London. The Brownings, etc. It's biography in novel form. I have corrected my first comments because I said it was fiction and it turns out, it is not fiction and I was told so in a comment and I stand correctly, gladly. I am rereading to make notes for research. It's a gorgeous piece of work and I think it was the first of its kind and influenced by Capote's form In Cold Blood.
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July 13, 2023Not quite the book I expected from descriptions of it as a pioneering group biography, or the foreword by Square Haunting's Francesca Wade. Yes, we do get snapshots of various figures from an overlapping set of social circles, some of whom are still read (Elizabeth Barrett and Robert Browning, plotting their elopement), some of whom at least remain as names (the irascible Macready; the Carlyles, their marriage seemingly on the rocks), and some who were sensations at the time but whose names were wholly new to me (the scandalous Gräfin von Hahn-Hahn). Bigger names occasionally pass through: Dickens is a persistent presence, though never quite a central one; the young Romantics are long gone, but their shadows linger, as do footnotes like Leigh Hunt, not to mention Wordsworth, who in the degree to which he's become a massive disappointment reminded me of Morrissey, had Morrissey at least cashed in instead of somehow selling out without anyone buying. These diverse figures allow for an examination in passing of various issues of the day, from attitudes to marriage and infidelity, to the fierce disagreements on the ethics of keeping letters. There's a wider context, too - Robert Peel is busily repealing the Corn Laws, and somehow as a subplot here the stakes and the excitement come across, when at school it only ever seemed to be vying with the seed drill for the aspect of modern history best calculated to put anyone off the entire period and send one running for the nutters with sharp implements who so enlivened the Middle Ages in comparison. Also, as the title suggests, it was bastard hot - more so even than last year's killing summer, because it turns out that when we were told that was the hottest 'since records began', they didn't actually mean the hundreds of years for which England has, y'know, records - they meant a century and change*.
So far, so group biography. But what I didn't expect was the degree to which the book has a central figure and spine, one man who best explains the specific frame of June 18th to July 13th, 1846 - and he's an absolute joke. Benjamin Robert Haydon was a painter, now best remembered as a correspondent of Keats and for one of the standard portraits of Wordsworth. Which he would have hated, because he considered portraits mere hackwork, insisting that the painter's real task was grand, ennobling historical canvases. A genre he invariably fluffed because, being so short-sighted he wore three pairs of spectacles on top of each other, he'd always end up drawing everyone with comically short legs. Hayter goes in claiming that she wants to rehabilitate Haydon, that in many respects he was ahead of his time - but then provides scant evidence for this, instead presenting us with fresh evidence of his farcical, frequently self-inflicted misfortune in each new chapter. He attempts to salvage his finances with a grand exhibition at the Egyptian Hall - but only ends up worse off because no fucker wants to see his portentous work when a famous midget is appearing next door. Constantly in debt, yet incapable of reining in his extravagant tastes, he even manages to commit suicide beyond his means, buying a pistol specially, only to botch the shot and have to finish the job with a razor. Which you'd think would at least end the parade of indignities, but no! His will is invalid, and places a number of his acquaintances in difficult positions. His inquest is conducted by a coroner he loathed; his papers are annotated after his death by a son who hates him. And let's not even get into the nudes of the elderly Wordsworth. As for his hopes that posterity might vindicate him - put it this way, reading this was the first time I've ever thought Enoch Soames got off lightly.
Of course, this book is itself 60 years old now - half again the gap between writer and subject. So there was every possibility that attitudes to Haydon might have further evolved in the interim (though alas, to the best of my awareness they have not). But there are other ways in which one is reminded of how attitudes have changed; when Elizabeth Barrett is described as "a sensible rather than a rabid feminist", it's not a turn of phrase you could imagine encountering in a mainstream book today. There can be a frustrating decorousness regarding anything vaguely sexual, versus a surprising readiness to go to town on the apparently remarkable ugliness of a few supporting characters. Still, for the most part that just leaves it as a record of two bygone ages, instead of one.
*None of which, I hope I need hardly add, is to deny the severity of the current crisis. It's more that I've always longed for the weather of the Little Ice Age, without realising that while their winters were more wintery, their summers could still be unbearable - and that before ready access to refrigeration or decent plumbing, let alone air-conditioning.
So far, so group biography. But what I didn't expect was the degree to which the book has a central figure and spine, one man who best explains the specific frame of June 18th to July 13th, 1846 - and he's an absolute joke. Benjamin Robert Haydon was a painter, now best remembered as a correspondent of Keats and for one of the standard portraits of Wordsworth. Which he would have hated, because he considered portraits mere hackwork, insisting that the painter's real task was grand, ennobling historical canvases. A genre he invariably fluffed because, being so short-sighted he wore three pairs of spectacles on top of each other, he'd always end up drawing everyone with comically short legs. Hayter goes in claiming that she wants to rehabilitate Haydon, that in many respects he was ahead of his time - but then provides scant evidence for this, instead presenting us with fresh evidence of his farcical, frequently self-inflicted misfortune in each new chapter. He attempts to salvage his finances with a grand exhibition at the Egyptian Hall - but only ends up worse off because no fucker wants to see his portentous work when a famous midget is appearing next door. Constantly in debt, yet incapable of reining in his extravagant tastes, he even manages to commit suicide beyond his means, buying a pistol specially, only to botch the shot and have to finish the job with a razor. Which you'd think would at least end the parade of indignities, but no! His will is invalid, and places a number of his acquaintances in difficult positions. His inquest is conducted by a coroner he loathed; his papers are annotated after his death by a son who hates him. And let's not even get into the nudes of the elderly Wordsworth. As for his hopes that posterity might vindicate him - put it this way, reading this was the first time I've ever thought Enoch Soames got off lightly.
Of course, this book is itself 60 years old now - half again the gap between writer and subject. So there was every possibility that attitudes to Haydon might have further evolved in the interim (though alas, to the best of my awareness they have not). But there are other ways in which one is reminded of how attitudes have changed; when Elizabeth Barrett is described as "a sensible rather than a rabid feminist", it's not a turn of phrase you could imagine encountering in a mainstream book today. There can be a frustrating decorousness regarding anything vaguely sexual, versus a surprising readiness to go to town on the apparently remarkable ugliness of a few supporting characters. Still, for the most part that just leaves it as a record of two bygone ages, instead of one.
*None of which, I hope I need hardly add, is to deny the severity of the current crisis. It's more that I've always longed for the weather of the Little Ice Age, without realising that while their winters were more wintery, their summers could still be unbearable - and that before ready access to refrigeration or decent plumbing, let alone air-conditioning.
August 12, 2022
It’s apt that as I finish reading a book that takes place during a month when London was engulfed in a heat wave in the 19th Century, the Capital is once again sweating in temperatures above 30 degrees in the 21st Century (and I’m writing this whilst lying in front of a fan desperately trying to keep cool).
‘A Sultry Month’ is a group biography taking place in June 1846 - its main focus is the artist Benjamin Haydon (who commits suicide that month) but the book also takes in the secret lovers Elizabeth Barrett & Robert Browning (just before they get married and elope), the married couple Thomas & Jane Carlyle as well as numerous walk on appearances by people such as Dickens, Tennyson & Wordsworth.
This book was written in the sixties and has recently been republished - you can see why. The group biography (or the micro history) is arguably a type of story this book pioneered and it’s extremely well done here. It takes such a short period but the detail and sense of place is amazing.
Anybody who wants to read more about Haydon should seek out ‘The Immortal Dinner’ by Penelope Hughes Hallett - which came out about a decade ago. It’s another group biography and that was one of my favourite history books.
‘A Sultry Month’ is a group biography taking place in June 1846 - its main focus is the artist Benjamin Haydon (who commits suicide that month) but the book also takes in the secret lovers Elizabeth Barrett & Robert Browning (just before they get married and elope), the married couple Thomas & Jane Carlyle as well as numerous walk on appearances by people such as Dickens, Tennyson & Wordsworth.
This book was written in the sixties and has recently been republished - you can see why. The group biography (or the micro history) is arguably a type of story this book pioneered and it’s extremely well done here. It takes such a short period but the detail and sense of place is amazing.
Anybody who wants to read more about Haydon should seek out ‘The Immortal Dinner’ by Penelope Hughes Hallett - which came out about a decade ago. It’s another group biography and that was one of my favourite history books.
September 13, 2024
I enjoyed this . Not at all what I expected as it focussed on the tragic last few days of a painter I’ve never heard of , Benjamin Haydon, and pivoted to analyse his life and the peculiarities of his personality and his self identity and lack of self knowledge. Other characters I’m more familiar with
Memorable , thought provoking, and enjoyable .
Recommend it
Memorable , thought provoking, and enjoyable .
Recommend it
April 26, 2012
Heavily based on diaries and letters of the time, this is a fascinating picture of the literary scene in London 1846. The main focus is on Benjamin Haydon, but Robert Browning, Elizabeth Barrett, Thomas and Jane Carlyle are also central figures.
April 3, 2025
Enjoyed most the parts about Elizabeth Barrett & Robert Browning plotting their marriage.
August 24, 2022
It was interesting to read this during a very hot summer. In June 1846 England was exceptionally hot, the average day temperature was 84 degrees in the shade, 105 in the sun, Kent had 6 weeks without rain and midday temperatures of 104 to 116. Wherryman, out in the boats on the Thames all day, died of sunstroke; farm-labourers died of heat stroke after a days mowing; many people all over the country were drowned while bathing" to the back drop of this fierce heat, Hayter gives the day to day lives of literary figures of the time, mainly: Thomas Carlyle and his wife, Robert Browning and Elizabeth Barrett and Benjamin Robert Hayden. Nothing in this book is invented. Every incident, every sentence of dialogue, every gesture, the food, the flowers, the furniture, all are taken from the contemporary letters, diaries, and reminiscences of the men and women concerned Published in 1965, Hayter's form of biography was so new as to lack a name. [Anthony Burgess, The Bookman]
I loved the way this book was put together. Especially the tiny details, such as Mrs Carlyle posting a newspaper to her husband to say that she had arrived safely on her journey, as a newspaper was cheaper to post than a letter. All the pieces are very skilfully woven together and it allows the reader to see the context of everything that was going on, and experience it as a whole. It's such a nice way to read a biography no wonder others have copied it.
However, I didn't much like the focus of the book. Hayter clearly became very interested in B.R Hayden, whose unhappy life and tragic death is the central theme around which all the other characters revolve. I wish she had concentrated on any of the others, or that I had cared more about Hayden. I tried; but he never struck me as a very sympathetic or interesting person, Hayter's fascination with him escapes me. His life and times are are uniformly tragic and to dwell on them at length could hardly be called a pleasure.
I loved the way this book was put together. Especially the tiny details, such as Mrs Carlyle posting a newspaper to her husband to say that she had arrived safely on her journey, as a newspaper was cheaper to post than a letter. All the pieces are very skilfully woven together and it allows the reader to see the context of everything that was going on, and experience it as a whole. It's such a nice way to read a biography no wonder others have copied it.
However, I didn't much like the focus of the book. Hayter clearly became very interested in B.R Hayden, whose unhappy life and tragic death is the central theme around which all the other characters revolve. I wish she had concentrated on any of the others, or that I had cared more about Hayden. I tried; but he never struck me as a very sympathetic or interesting person, Hayter's fascination with him escapes me. His life and times are are uniformly tragic and to dwell on them at length could hardly be called a pleasure.
November 4, 2022
This is a reissue of a wonderful 1965 book. The English summer of 1846 was hot. Hayter follows the lives of a group of English artists, writers and intellectuals through the week of Thursday June 19th, 1846 to Thursday Jun 25th.
The story revolves around that artist Benjamin Robert Haydon who commits suicide on Monday, June 22, 1846. He was a larger-than-life character who knew all of the intellectual celebrities of his day. He was chronically in debt. He was arrested several times for bad debts. He was at war with the advanced artists and art world of his day. His suicide shocked everyone.
Hayter uses Haydon as a fulcrum to study the whole intellectual scene of London. Just before he died, Haydon sent his papers to Elizabeth Barret Brown for safe keeping. She confided that to her secret fiancée Robert Browning who she was preparing to elope with.
Thomas Carlyle and his wife Jane are close friends of Haydon and Browning. They are reaching a crisis in their difficult marriage. Alfred Tennyson was part of the crowd. He publicly disparaged Browning's poetry.
Charles Dickens was the biggest celebrity in London. He was in Switzerland that summer, but everyone seems to have been writing to him. He was friends with Tennyson, Browning and Tennyson.
Hayter does a masterful job of showing the intricacy of the intellectual circles in London. Haydon's story is tragic, but it is a brilliant fulcrum to revolve around.
Hayter was ahead of her times. These kinds of joint biographies are very popular now. Francesca Wade, who write a introduction to this edition, just published "Square Haunting", which is a similar joint biography focused on a small square in London.
The story revolves around that artist Benjamin Robert Haydon who commits suicide on Monday, June 22, 1846. He was a larger-than-life character who knew all of the intellectual celebrities of his day. He was chronically in debt. He was arrested several times for bad debts. He was at war with the advanced artists and art world of his day. His suicide shocked everyone.
Hayter uses Haydon as a fulcrum to study the whole intellectual scene of London. Just before he died, Haydon sent his papers to Elizabeth Barret Brown for safe keeping. She confided that to her secret fiancée Robert Browning who she was preparing to elope with.
Thomas Carlyle and his wife Jane are close friends of Haydon and Browning. They are reaching a crisis in their difficult marriage. Alfred Tennyson was part of the crowd. He publicly disparaged Browning's poetry.
Charles Dickens was the biggest celebrity in London. He was in Switzerland that summer, but everyone seems to have been writing to him. He was friends with Tennyson, Browning and Tennyson.
Hayter does a masterful job of showing the intricacy of the intellectual circles in London. Haydon's story is tragic, but it is a brilliant fulcrum to revolve around.
Hayter was ahead of her times. These kinds of joint biographies are very popular now. Francesca Wade, who write a introduction to this edition, just published "Square Haunting", which is a similar joint biography focused on a small square in London.
January 16, 2023
Interesting, out of my usual genres. I wasn't familiar with all the people. I found it interesting reading about the hot weather - can you imagine?! No air con, wearing Victorian clothing (layer upon layer!) - let alone washing!!! eek!!
I was also interested in the personal writings and reflections. The points of view, feelings about and for others.
Yes there was quite a bit about the painter, he was central in drawing the cast together.
I didn't realise how long ago it was written, but great for the time.
Got a bit too bogged down for me with the painter & Huhn Huhn.
I realise it's about a certain class, it would have been interesting to read how everyday people coped and had a bit more background about the weather - did it change how the city dealt with such hot weather? (probably not, if today is any indication!)
I was also interested in the personal writings and reflections. The points of view, feelings about and for others.
Yes there was quite a bit about the painter, he was central in drawing the cast together.
I didn't realise how long ago it was written, but great for the time.
Got a bit too bogged down for me with the painter & Huhn Huhn.
I realise it's about a certain class, it would have been interesting to read how everyday people coped and had a bit more background about the weather - did it change how the city dealt with such hot weather? (probably not, if today is any indication!)
March 29, 2023
Takes some getting into but an astonishing achievement. Haydon is the main focus but he is a remarkable character - the poor artist convinced he was a genius - and there is real pathos at how his fate unfolds.
Hayter particularly strong on the goings on in Wimpole Street three months before the elopement. Everyone is treated empathetically, though Mrs C is certainly showed warts and all. Worth sticking with I think.
Hayter particularly strong on the goings on in Wimpole Street three months before the elopement. Everyone is treated empathetically, though Mrs C is certainly showed warts and all. Worth sticking with I think.
September 8, 2025
This is a most fascinating account of one month in June 1846 when there was much activity in the literary world in a London that was sweltering under a heatwave in which people were dying after being overcome by the heat. The heat was also on in the literary world with many famous writers were intertwined with one another, spending their time writing as well as wining, dining and opining.
Practically centre stage in the superb book is Benjamin Haydon, primarily an artist but also an occasional writer, particularly of his journals. His fame was perhaps past him but he was still a prominent person in the arty/literary world and his main friendship was with Elizabeth Barrett, who at the time was engaged to and involved in a clandestine affair with the poet Robert Browning.
Haydon was so involved with Elizabeth that he was writing to her almost every day, confiding in her and even sending material such as paintings and his journals to her for safe keeping. It was a strange relationship as he hardly ever saw her but they corresponded almost every day, sometimes even writing two or three times daily.
Elizabeth also corresponded with Browning to whom she was secretly engaged so, not as to arouse suspicion, they only met occasionally but had planned a getaway to Italy for a future date. The rather strange relationship between Thomas and Jane Carlyle also comes in for much scrutiny and with the actor William Macready offering opinions and everything and everybody, not always complimentary, the London literary scene was alive with excitement.
Mary Russell Mitford, Alfred Tennyson, the poet Samuel Rogers, who had a magnificent collection of art by some of the greats, and William Wordsworth also feature strongly, the last named if only because Haydon adored him and had painted a number of portraits of him. The other personality who was heavily involved was John Forster, later on Dickens' first biographer, as he has a finger in so many pies that it was difficult to exclude him! Some of the more prominent members of the literary world are on the periphery of the action; such as Dickens, Thackeray, Cruikshank and others, while Anna Jameson, the art historian and travel writer, pops up all over the place as does Ida Gräfin von Hahn-Hahn, a German aristocratic author who seemed to have a finger in most pies and was friends, or otherwise, with most of the protagonists involved.
As for Benjamin Haydon, he met a sad end as his fame and fortunes disappeared and he became more and more depressed. He tried to shoot himself, failed so he completed the job by slitting his throat!
Alethea Hayter has treated us to a vivid, witty and enticing snapshot of London's literati at a time when they were at the height of their fame.
Practically centre stage in the superb book is Benjamin Haydon, primarily an artist but also an occasional writer, particularly of his journals. His fame was perhaps past him but he was still a prominent person in the arty/literary world and his main friendship was with Elizabeth Barrett, who at the time was engaged to and involved in a clandestine affair with the poet Robert Browning.
Haydon was so involved with Elizabeth that he was writing to her almost every day, confiding in her and even sending material such as paintings and his journals to her for safe keeping. It was a strange relationship as he hardly ever saw her but they corresponded almost every day, sometimes even writing two or three times daily.
Elizabeth also corresponded with Browning to whom she was secretly engaged so, not as to arouse suspicion, they only met occasionally but had planned a getaway to Italy for a future date. The rather strange relationship between Thomas and Jane Carlyle also comes in for much scrutiny and with the actor William Macready offering opinions and everything and everybody, not always complimentary, the London literary scene was alive with excitement.
Mary Russell Mitford, Alfred Tennyson, the poet Samuel Rogers, who had a magnificent collection of art by some of the greats, and William Wordsworth also feature strongly, the last named if only because Haydon adored him and had painted a number of portraits of him. The other personality who was heavily involved was John Forster, later on Dickens' first biographer, as he has a finger in so many pies that it was difficult to exclude him! Some of the more prominent members of the literary world are on the periphery of the action; such as Dickens, Thackeray, Cruikshank and others, while Anna Jameson, the art historian and travel writer, pops up all over the place as does Ida Gräfin von Hahn-Hahn, a German aristocratic author who seemed to have a finger in most pies and was friends, or otherwise, with most of the protagonists involved.
As for Benjamin Haydon, he met a sad end as his fame and fortunes disappeared and he became more and more depressed. He tried to shoot himself, failed so he completed the job by slitting his throat!
Alethea Hayter has treated us to a vivid, witty and enticing snapshot of London's literati at a time when they were at the height of their fame.
November 30, 2023
A Sultry Month is a wonderful view into the lives of London's literati during the 19th century. I really enjoyed how the narrator took us through the lives of the various players, and how she provided insight into their thoughts, feelings, and actions. If you are a fan of either Robert or Elizabeth (Barrett) Browning, this covers the end of their courtship. The story is explained but all events are pulled directly from the letters passed between the many individuals covered during this long summer of 1846. Fans of historical non-fiction, and Victorian literature will enjoy.
August 27, 2023
The difficulty with a group biography is that some people’s stories are more interesting than others. Some of the stories simply came across better. Time was spent describing where each person lived in relationship to another, which I found tedious, and not illuminating to the rest of the story. My favorite part was how Elizabeth Barrett was so hot during that summer of 1846 that all she could do was lay around and read the Count of Monte Cristo, which is exactly what I have done this summer.
September 4, 2024
Apparently the first group biography. I liked it, but was surprised at the combination of extremely juicy details (how did she find all those descriptions of what people looked like and sounded like?) but then how dry some of it was. Very focused on Hayden, and some taken-for-granted sexism, but that’s expected from a book from the 1960s. Amazing list of sources at the end but I wish there were more precise references to where different things were taken from.
January 25, 2023
Hmm. Having just finished, I think the title is a little misleading. The bulk of the book is about painter Benjamin Robert Haydon & his financial woes. Was hoping for more glimpses into the lives Dickens & Wordsworth. That said, definitely know more about the troubled life & tragic death of the “visionary” BRH.
December 27, 2022
Four stars for scholarship, but a little too detailed for me. The premise for a group biography, one month of the comings and goings of a group of 1816 London's literary citizens, is excellent. Robert Browning and Elizabeth Barret among them.
December 28, 2022
Just not quite as gripping as one would expect it to be. Still, nice to read of New Cross as the countryside.
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December 21, 2024A good subway book for the sticky summer months. Somebody needs to make yearning film adaptation of the Brownings' romance. The stickier, the better.
July 28, 2022
Unusual style of book that combines biographies of several different authors and artists that were contemporaries, and interacted as friends and colleagues, in 1846 London. Some of them are well-known but the book, relying on their letters and diaries, brings out personal details and perspectives that make them even more interesting. The book was written in the 1960's so is not new. I assume it was highlighted in a display in Waterstones in London last week because it takes place during the
incredibly hot summer of 1846, much like the hot summer which London has suffered in 2022! I am so glad to have found it there.
incredibly hot summer of 1846, much like the hot summer which London has suffered in 2022! I am so glad to have found it there.
November 28, 2015
This book was an absolute pleasure to read. It gives a wonderful evocative insight into the lives of the literary and artistic characters living in London during 1846. I will probably read it again.
February 13, 2018
In the event that I could have read this over a longer period of time, I might have appreciated it more. Skillfully written, very emerging, but it just didn't grab me as I hoped it would.
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