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The Great Lover
An imaginative, fascinating novel about the poet Rupert Brooke, showing the complex man behind the romantic image as it tells a poignant story of love and loss.
321 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2009
45 people are currently reading
894 people want to read
About the author
Jill Dawson
42 books98 followersJill Dawson was born in Durham and grew up in Staffordshire, Essex and Yorkshire. She read American Studies at the University of Nottingham, then took a series of short-term jobs in London before studying for an MA in Writing at Sheffield Hallam University. In 1997 she was the British Council Writing Fellow at Amherst College, Massachussets.
Her writing life began as a poet, her poems being published in a variety of small press magazines, and in one pamphlet collection, White Fish with Painted Nails (1990). She won an Eric Gregory Award for her poetry in 1992.
She edited several books for Virago, including The Virago Book of Wicked Verse (1992) and The Virago Book of Love Letters (1994). She has also edited a collection of short stories, School Tales: Stories by Young Women (1990), and with co-editor Margo Daly, Wild Ways: New Stories about Women on the Road (1998) and Gas and Air: Tales of Pregnancy and Birth (2002). She is the author of one book of non-fiction for teenagers, How Do I Look? (1991), which deals with the subject of self-esteem.
Jill Dawson is the author of five novels: Trick of the Light (1996); Magpie (1998), for which she won a London Arts Board New Writers Award; Fred and Edie (2000); Wild Boy (2003); and most recently, Watch Me Disappear (2006). Fred and Edie is based on the historic murder trial of Thompson and Bywaters, and was shortlisted for the 2000 Whitbread Novel Award and the 2001 Orange Prize for Fiction.
Her next novel, The Great Lover, is due for publication in early 2009.
Jill Dawson has taught Creative Writing for many years and was recently the Creative Writing Fellow at the University of East Anglia. She lives with her family in the Cambridgeshire Fens.
Her writing life began as a poet, her poems being published in a variety of small press magazines, and in one pamphlet collection, White Fish with Painted Nails (1990). She won an Eric Gregory Award for her poetry in 1992.
She edited several books for Virago, including The Virago Book of Wicked Verse (1992) and The Virago Book of Love Letters (1994). She has also edited a collection of short stories, School Tales: Stories by Young Women (1990), and with co-editor Margo Daly, Wild Ways: New Stories about Women on the Road (1998) and Gas and Air: Tales of Pregnancy and Birth (2002). She is the author of one book of non-fiction for teenagers, How Do I Look? (1991), which deals with the subject of self-esteem.
Jill Dawson is the author of five novels: Trick of the Light (1996); Magpie (1998), for which she won a London Arts Board New Writers Award; Fred and Edie (2000); Wild Boy (2003); and most recently, Watch Me Disappear (2006). Fred and Edie is based on the historic murder trial of Thompson and Bywaters, and was shortlisted for the 2000 Whitbread Novel Award and the 2001 Orange Prize for Fiction.
Her next novel, The Great Lover, is due for publication in early 2009.
Jill Dawson has taught Creative Writing for many years and was recently the Creative Writing Fellow at the University of East Anglia. She lives with her family in the Cambridgeshire Fens.
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December 24, 2009
The Great Lover is the fictionalised account of five years in the life of the poet Rupert Brooke. These are years during which Brooke published his first volume of poetry, had a nervous breakdown and an affair with a Polynesian woman on a South Sea island.
The viewpoint is shared between Ruupert himself and Nell, a maid at a tea room in Grantchester who is in love with him. Actual letters and lines of poetry are cleverly woven into the narrative, though the character of Nell is entirely fictional.
Brooke emerges from the story as likeable but naive, obsessed with sex and confused about his sexuality, dominated by his mother and haunted by his elder brother's suicide. The pages that deal with his breakdown are extremely well done and utterly convincing.
It's a powerful book but painful at times, saved from becoming too dark by the strong, clear voice of Nell whose no-nonsense character is in such contrast to Rupert's but who cannot help being sucked into his inner darkness.
The viewpoint is shared between Ruupert himself and Nell, a maid at a tea room in Grantchester who is in love with him. Actual letters and lines of poetry are cleverly woven into the narrative, though the character of Nell is entirely fictional.
Brooke emerges from the story as likeable but naive, obsessed with sex and confused about his sexuality, dominated by his mother and haunted by his elder brother's suicide. The pages that deal with his breakdown are extremely well done and utterly convincing.
It's a powerful book but painful at times, saved from becoming too dark by the strong, clear voice of Nell whose no-nonsense character is in such contrast to Rupert's but who cannot help being sucked into his inner darkness.
February 3, 2009
Sometimes reviewing books can be a solitary and frightening experience. When I ordered The Great Lover, I knew I was taking a risk. I’d first contacted Jill Dawson to tell her how much I’d admired her novels Wild Boy and Fred and Edie, and we’d sort of kept in touch, so what was I to say if I didn’t feel the same about The Great Lover?
There was already a strike against it in my mind. Rupert Brooke, who is one of the two central characters in the novel, has always been my least favourite of that generation of poets. I’ve never felt the appeal of his work in the way that others seem to.
And so I sat down to read, feeling nervous. In the big scheme of things it wouldn’t matter much if I didn’t like the novel. It certainly wouldn’t affect Jill, who is garlanded with awards. But there was a question that everybody has to deal with at some point, that question of personal integrity – if I didn’t find merit in the novel, I felt I was going to have to say so, just because I had, in the past, expressed my feelings about other novels. To damn with faint praise would be hypocritical, to remain silent would feel like an abdication of my tiny role as a writer and reviewer. And while it is a tiny role, it is one that I’ve made for myself and I didn’t want to corrupt or denigrate it.
And yet, Dawson has pulled it off. Through the creation of a young maid, Nell Golightly, whose views of, and relationship with, Rupert Brooke, counterpoint his narration, we see Brooke as an attractive, often weak, but always original character. We see how he might appeal to a young woman, and to young men, and yet how his burnished good looks, his charming manner and his earnest desire to improve the world could have been an appalling burden for a young man trying to understand the world, and his place in it.
Nell is no cypher – while she dismissed Suffragists as not caring for the working woman, or understanding their real needs, she is full-blooded, canny and quite able to, as she puts it, ‘face facts’. The facts that she faces at the end of her life are the possibility that Brooke had an illegitimate child in Tahiti, as well as definitely being a Sodomite in Grantchester. And the facts that she reveals, as she recounts her short time spent observing the Brooke circle as a maid of all work, cast an entirely imaginary, but utterly believable, light on the young and troubled Rupert that allows the narrative leap into areas of his life that we know little of.
As always, Jill Dawson’s work is lush – her sense of place and season makes every scene utterly concrete, and her poet’s eye for telling detail gives an almost emblematic value to certain aspects of the narrative, in particular the honey that Nell makes both at home in the Fens and in Grantchester as a beekeeper’s assistant, and the implements of household drudgery: the kettles and fires and bedclothes and polish, that make Nell’s life meaningful.
And in the end I did love it. Not, perhaps Brooke, although I certainly like him better than I did, but Nell is compelling, convincing and fascinating. It’s transporting and lovely and a subtle psychological portrait of a man and a time that I feel I know better now, and care more about, than ever I did before. Is it worth reading – absolutely – you will not waste a minute you spend with this novel!
There was already a strike against it in my mind. Rupert Brooke, who is one of the two central characters in the novel, has always been my least favourite of that generation of poets. I’ve never felt the appeal of his work in the way that others seem to.
And so I sat down to read, feeling nervous. In the big scheme of things it wouldn’t matter much if I didn’t like the novel. It certainly wouldn’t affect Jill, who is garlanded with awards. But there was a question that everybody has to deal with at some point, that question of personal integrity – if I didn’t find merit in the novel, I felt I was going to have to say so, just because I had, in the past, expressed my feelings about other novels. To damn with faint praise would be hypocritical, to remain silent would feel like an abdication of my tiny role as a writer and reviewer. And while it is a tiny role, it is one that I’ve made for myself and I didn’t want to corrupt or denigrate it.
And yet, Dawson has pulled it off. Through the creation of a young maid, Nell Golightly, whose views of, and relationship with, Rupert Brooke, counterpoint his narration, we see Brooke as an attractive, often weak, but always original character. We see how he might appeal to a young woman, and to young men, and yet how his burnished good looks, his charming manner and his earnest desire to improve the world could have been an appalling burden for a young man trying to understand the world, and his place in it.
Nell is no cypher – while she dismissed Suffragists as not caring for the working woman, or understanding their real needs, she is full-blooded, canny and quite able to, as she puts it, ‘face facts’. The facts that she faces at the end of her life are the possibility that Brooke had an illegitimate child in Tahiti, as well as definitely being a Sodomite in Grantchester. And the facts that she reveals, as she recounts her short time spent observing the Brooke circle as a maid of all work, cast an entirely imaginary, but utterly believable, light on the young and troubled Rupert that allows the narrative leap into areas of his life that we know little of.
As always, Jill Dawson’s work is lush – her sense of place and season makes every scene utterly concrete, and her poet’s eye for telling detail gives an almost emblematic value to certain aspects of the narrative, in particular the honey that Nell makes both at home in the Fens and in Grantchester as a beekeeper’s assistant, and the implements of household drudgery: the kettles and fires and bedclothes and polish, that make Nell’s life meaningful.
And in the end I did love it. Not, perhaps Brooke, although I certainly like him better than I did, but Nell is compelling, convincing and fascinating. It’s transporting and lovely and a subtle psychological portrait of a man and a time that I feel I know better now, and care more about, than ever I did before. Is it worth reading – absolutely – you will not waste a minute you spend with this novel!
May 21, 2019
The Great Lover is the first of Jill Dawson's novels which I have read. All of her stories interest me, but I plumped for The Great Lover is a starting point for two reasons; it is set close to where I grew up, and features poet Rupert Brooke, whose writing I admire, as a character. It also takes place in a time period which I love to read about.
The Great Lover begins in the summer of 1909 in Grantchester, Cambridgeshire, a place much famed as a hangout spot for a lot of famous Cambridge-educated writers and artists. Seventeen-year-old Nell Golightly, a fictional creation of Dawson's, has just been employed to waitress at the Orchard Tea Gardens. Soon after she begins her new job, Rupert Brooke arrives as a lodger, hoping that being away from his University halls at King's College will enable him to complete a lot of projects without distractions.
Brooke is something of a talking point immediately. He is 'famed for his good looks and flouting of convention', and 'captures the hearts of men and women alike, yet his own seems to stay intact.' Despite her 'good sense', Nell too begins to fall for Brooke, and he for her. Told from two perspectives, the novel 'gives voice to Rupert Brooke himself in a tale of mutual fascination and inner turmoil, set at a time of great social unrest.' Dawson weaves together extracts from Brooke's own letters with the imagined voice which she has created for him; she builds her narrative around his own. The other voice we hear within the novel is Nell's.
One gets a feel for Nell immediately. She has been recently orphaned, losing her mother in girlhood, and her father quite recently. She takes the job away from her Fenland home in order to support her younger siblings. She describes herself as a 'good, sensible girl', with 'many faults: I am feverishly curious, some would say nosy; I have no compunction about reading other people's letters; I'm proud and full of vanity; I've a quick tempter although I forgive just as easily; I am not fond of horses and I am wont to be impatient with bees; and, worse of all, I am a girl who is incapable of being romanced because I don't have a sentimental bone in my body. Moons and Junes mean nothing to be, unless it is to signify good conditions for bees.'
When Nell first meets Brooke, 'he appears at the door, tall and sunny, loose-limbed and lanky, with his high forehead and mane of hair... he grins a glorious grin at me and the sun blazes through the floor, warming my face to scarlet. He wears grey flannels and a soft collar with no tie, and his face is rather innocent and babyish and, at the same time, inspired with a fierce life.' The narrative using Brooke's voice, which uses flowery, poetic prose, provides much of the humour in the novel. In the first of his entries, when he has moved into the Orchard Tea Rooms, he writes: 'My bedroom looks as though it hasn't been cleaned since Thomas Hardy was first weaned and the beam above my head sheds little flakes of rotting wood like a shower of chocolate on the sheets in the morning.'
A high level of description, and the engaging, rich prose in which it is written, threads through the entire novel, and helps to create a vivid sense of place. The Great Lover has clearly been so well researched, and the atmosphere of the time really comes alive. The social and cultural climate of the time is always there; socialism, suffragism, and the like beat on in the background, sometimes being discussed by the protagonists too. Added to this is the way in which Dawson has introduced real-life figures, who interact mainly with Rupert. We meet, amongst others, Bohemians like Augustus John and 'peacock'-like Ottoline Morrell, and Virginia Woolf even makes a cameo.
In her acknowledgements-cum-afterword, Dawson notes: 'Of course I made Rupert [as well as Nell] up... and he is 'my' Rupert Brooke, a figure from my imagination, fused from his poetry, his letters, his travel writing and essays, photographs, guesswork, the things I know about his life blended with my own dreams of him, and impressions.' Brooke's character adds a tongue in cheek, playful element to the novel. I must say, however, that his voice did not always feel authentic to me, and I largely preferred Nell's section of the narrative.
The element of Brooke's inner turmoil has not been explored in as much detail here as I was expecting. His nervous breakdown, which offered so much room for investigation, has been almost glossed over. Whilst many of the reviews point to the depth which Dawson has given her characters in The Great Lover, I do not feel as though Brooke has quite been developed as well as he could have been. The narrative voices, which switch between one another throughout, are not always as distinctive as they could have been; on a couple of occasions, it did feel a little confusing to differentiate between the speakers. I was expecting a heady, sensual novel, and do not quite feel as though this element was realised. There are some very well executed parts to The Great Lover, but Brooke unfortunately felt little more than a caricature at times.
The Great Lover begins in the summer of 1909 in Grantchester, Cambridgeshire, a place much famed as a hangout spot for a lot of famous Cambridge-educated writers and artists. Seventeen-year-old Nell Golightly, a fictional creation of Dawson's, has just been employed to waitress at the Orchard Tea Gardens. Soon after she begins her new job, Rupert Brooke arrives as a lodger, hoping that being away from his University halls at King's College will enable him to complete a lot of projects without distractions.
Brooke is something of a talking point immediately. He is 'famed for his good looks and flouting of convention', and 'captures the hearts of men and women alike, yet his own seems to stay intact.' Despite her 'good sense', Nell too begins to fall for Brooke, and he for her. Told from two perspectives, the novel 'gives voice to Rupert Brooke himself in a tale of mutual fascination and inner turmoil, set at a time of great social unrest.' Dawson weaves together extracts from Brooke's own letters with the imagined voice which she has created for him; she builds her narrative around his own. The other voice we hear within the novel is Nell's.
One gets a feel for Nell immediately. She has been recently orphaned, losing her mother in girlhood, and her father quite recently. She takes the job away from her Fenland home in order to support her younger siblings. She describes herself as a 'good, sensible girl', with 'many faults: I am feverishly curious, some would say nosy; I have no compunction about reading other people's letters; I'm proud and full of vanity; I've a quick tempter although I forgive just as easily; I am not fond of horses and I am wont to be impatient with bees; and, worse of all, I am a girl who is incapable of being romanced because I don't have a sentimental bone in my body. Moons and Junes mean nothing to be, unless it is to signify good conditions for bees.'
When Nell first meets Brooke, 'he appears at the door, tall and sunny, loose-limbed and lanky, with his high forehead and mane of hair... he grins a glorious grin at me and the sun blazes through the floor, warming my face to scarlet. He wears grey flannels and a soft collar with no tie, and his face is rather innocent and babyish and, at the same time, inspired with a fierce life.' The narrative using Brooke's voice, which uses flowery, poetic prose, provides much of the humour in the novel. In the first of his entries, when he has moved into the Orchard Tea Rooms, he writes: 'My bedroom looks as though it hasn't been cleaned since Thomas Hardy was first weaned and the beam above my head sheds little flakes of rotting wood like a shower of chocolate on the sheets in the morning.'
A high level of description, and the engaging, rich prose in which it is written, threads through the entire novel, and helps to create a vivid sense of place. The Great Lover has clearly been so well researched, and the atmosphere of the time really comes alive. The social and cultural climate of the time is always there; socialism, suffragism, and the like beat on in the background, sometimes being discussed by the protagonists too. Added to this is the way in which Dawson has introduced real-life figures, who interact mainly with Rupert. We meet, amongst others, Bohemians like Augustus John and 'peacock'-like Ottoline Morrell, and Virginia Woolf even makes a cameo.
In her acknowledgements-cum-afterword, Dawson notes: 'Of course I made Rupert [as well as Nell] up... and he is 'my' Rupert Brooke, a figure from my imagination, fused from his poetry, his letters, his travel writing and essays, photographs, guesswork, the things I know about his life blended with my own dreams of him, and impressions.' Brooke's character adds a tongue in cheek, playful element to the novel. I must say, however, that his voice did not always feel authentic to me, and I largely preferred Nell's section of the narrative.
The element of Brooke's inner turmoil has not been explored in as much detail here as I was expecting. His nervous breakdown, which offered so much room for investigation, has been almost glossed over. Whilst many of the reviews point to the depth which Dawson has given her characters in The Great Lover, I do not feel as though Brooke has quite been developed as well as he could have been. The narrative voices, which switch between one another throughout, are not always as distinctive as they could have been; on a couple of occasions, it did feel a little confusing to differentiate between the speakers. I was expecting a heady, sensual novel, and do not quite feel as though this element was realised. There are some very well executed parts to The Great Lover, but Brooke unfortunately felt little more than a caricature at times.
September 27, 2017
I enjoyed this in part fictional story of the time Rupert Brooke spent in Cambridge. Having been to The Orchard Tea Rooms, and walked by Byrons pool in the river, I found the story gave an interesting and nuanced insight into this period. Yes he was self indulgent and perhaps shallow, but I liked how the various characters were developed and portrayed.
March 14, 2018
Um, yes. Interesting but not a book I'd be inclined to read again. I'm not into poetry so I didn't really know about Rupert Brooke before this and honestly, whilst Dawson's depiction of him was so real and full-bodied, he was such an irritating, self-involved spoilt little bratt completely lacking in thought and empathy of a convincing variety for anyone else that I am bemused why he or anyone else would consider him as The Great Lover. I think I'd rather be celibate if that is the case.
It covers four or five years before the break out of the first world war and alternates between a (I suppose) fictionalised version of Rupert Brookes, and maid Nellie Golightly at a tearooms/boarding house Granchester, near to Cambridge. He is the idle rich, writing poems and essays, being educated and poetic, patronising women and the lower classes as if he's there to help without having the slightest comprehension of real life. All right, we've all had our little pompous moments when we were very young and thought we knew it all but he takes it to a new level, with his Cambridge chums, the Fabian society... it's all very well when you've got a bit of money behind you and don't have to work for a living. Take Nellie, working as a maid, from 7am to 10 pm six days a week. And he has the nerve to try and mock her because she hasn't read all the books he has. She doesn't have the time! He goes on pretenscious little summer jaunts to explain to working class men why they're repressed (obviously too dumb to figure it out). There's a lot of social do gooding going on, but never for all and generally there's an underlying feeling it's really being done so that the doer can feel better about themselves more than anything else. It's such as when Kitty, one of the other maids, goes to London to join the Suffragettes, and ends up in prison. Although it's supposedly all for the betterment of all women, there's definately an us and them. The rich ladies, with money and husbands, get nice cells, magazines and can speak to the man in charge. Regular girls like Kitty get groped and abused and may end up destitute when they get out as they have neither money nor husband to rescue them when they get out. And as Nell points out to her in a discussion, what has any of it got to do with her? All they're fighting for is the right for MARRIED women over 30 for the right to vote. That's not them. And she sees her other sisters married young and driven into a constant depressing cycle of pregnancy, stillborn babies, housework and poverty and not a moment to recover before the husband's forcing himself on them again. It is certainly a time of building social unrest, and people stopping and thinking about the status quo.
Anyway, we read through Rupert dotting from one woman to another, more in love with the idea of love and getting rid of his virginity than being in love with an actual person. And these women all fall for him and get their hearts broken without him worrying his head too much about any of them.
A lot of interest in it, but a lot of things that annoyed me.
It covers four or five years before the break out of the first world war and alternates between a (I suppose) fictionalised version of Rupert Brookes, and maid Nellie Golightly at a tearooms/boarding house Granchester, near to Cambridge. He is the idle rich, writing poems and essays, being educated and poetic, patronising women and the lower classes as if he's there to help without having the slightest comprehension of real life. All right, we've all had our little pompous moments when we were very young and thought we knew it all but he takes it to a new level, with his Cambridge chums, the Fabian society... it's all very well when you've got a bit of money behind you and don't have to work for a living. Take Nellie, working as a maid, from 7am to 10 pm six days a week. And he has the nerve to try and mock her because she hasn't read all the books he has. She doesn't have the time! He goes on pretenscious little summer jaunts to explain to working class men why they're repressed (obviously too dumb to figure it out). There's a lot of social do gooding going on, but never for all and generally there's an underlying feeling it's really being done so that the doer can feel better about themselves more than anything else. It's such as when Kitty, one of the other maids, goes to London to join the Suffragettes, and ends up in prison. Although it's supposedly all for the betterment of all women, there's definately an us and them. The rich ladies, with money and husbands, get nice cells, magazines and can speak to the man in charge. Regular girls like Kitty get groped and abused and may end up destitute when they get out as they have neither money nor husband to rescue them when they get out. And as Nell points out to her in a discussion, what has any of it got to do with her? All they're fighting for is the right for MARRIED women over 30 for the right to vote. That's not them. And she sees her other sisters married young and driven into a constant depressing cycle of pregnancy, stillborn babies, housework and poverty and not a moment to recover before the husband's forcing himself on them again. It is certainly a time of building social unrest, and people stopping and thinking about the status quo.
Anyway, we read through Rupert dotting from one woman to another, more in love with the idea of love and getting rid of his virginity than being in love with an actual person. And these women all fall for him and get their hearts broken without him worrying his head too much about any of them.
A lot of interest in it, but a lot of things that annoyed me.
July 25, 2009
"Novelists thrive on the gaps in a story, the murky places that only imagination can illuminate." (...taken from Jill Dawson's website). - Before reading this novel I wasn't aware of Rupert Brooke's life - all I knew was the intensely moving war poems I'd studied at school and the fact that he died early of septicaemia, which seemed an anti-climax for a heroic and patriotic war poet! - I'm therefore extremely grateful for Jill Dawson's imaginative depiction of the 'real' Brooke.
What I enjoyed most about this novel was the idealism captured by Dawson's engaging and poetic prose, which really brought the spirit of the time just before the Great War alive for me. - The way she blended real phrases and snippets of genuine letters, conversations and feelings into her fiction was a powerful way to give voice to her main characters. It was an unreal time, when those of Brooke's set were able to delay the growing up process and remain perpetually innocent, while at the same time, and perhaps paradoxically, experimenting with the definitions of acceptability. It was a unique period of history and powerfully evoked by Dawson.
Nell, the counterpoint in the novel, was absolutely delightful bringing balance and making the political backdrop of the suffragist movement, early socialism and the Fabian society more three dimensional and clearly rooted in the time. The symbolism of Nell with the bees was all-pervading within the novel clearly denoting the layers of society and expected behavioural morals of the time - 'Bees have morals! They're loyal. They're devoted to their queen and they work so hard! There's no shame in service...Bees live only to serve!' - the fact that they embodied part of the sensual core of the novel was a clever device - the sexual energy almost fizzed off the page because of it.
The only reason I didn't give this novel 5 stars is that I'm not sure I want Dawson's version of Brooke to be my version of Brooke - I'll be looking for a biography or two to flesh out a rounded picture of the man and the times.
Additionally, the scenes in Tahiti didn’t convince me. Given that the novel begins with a fictional letter from Brooke's potentially illegitimate daughter with Taatamata, I was expecting a far more powerful sense of profound love and passion from the scenes in Tahiti. I wanted to be knocked off my feet by their love story, to feel that Brooke finally found what he was looking for. I wanted all the experimentation and sexual ambiguity of his youth to culminate in a one-time, all consuming 'I can now die happy' moment. - Perhaps that’s the romantic in me and is an unreasonable demand. BUT - I was deeply affected by the fact that Brooke died so young, that a major talent was lost too soon and for some reason if I was convinced that he'd found what he wanted in Tahiti it might have made his premature death more bearable.
Despite the Tahitian disappointment - I thought, overall, this book was absolutely fantastic and I will now be going out to buy more of Jill Dawson's novels. Her amazingly poetic and engaging writing style is, by far, the best I've read in a very long time!
Ally
What I enjoyed most about this novel was the idealism captured by Dawson's engaging and poetic prose, which really brought the spirit of the time just before the Great War alive for me. - The way she blended real phrases and snippets of genuine letters, conversations and feelings into her fiction was a powerful way to give voice to her main characters. It was an unreal time, when those of Brooke's set were able to delay the growing up process and remain perpetually innocent, while at the same time, and perhaps paradoxically, experimenting with the definitions of acceptability. It was a unique period of history and powerfully evoked by Dawson.
Nell, the counterpoint in the novel, was absolutely delightful bringing balance and making the political backdrop of the suffragist movement, early socialism and the Fabian society more three dimensional and clearly rooted in the time. The symbolism of Nell with the bees was all-pervading within the novel clearly denoting the layers of society and expected behavioural morals of the time - 'Bees have morals! They're loyal. They're devoted to their queen and they work so hard! There's no shame in service...Bees live only to serve!' - the fact that they embodied part of the sensual core of the novel was a clever device - the sexual energy almost fizzed off the page because of it.
The only reason I didn't give this novel 5 stars is that I'm not sure I want Dawson's version of Brooke to be my version of Brooke - I'll be looking for a biography or two to flesh out a rounded picture of the man and the times.
Additionally, the scenes in Tahiti didn’t convince me. Given that the novel begins with a fictional letter from Brooke's potentially illegitimate daughter with Taatamata, I was expecting a far more powerful sense of profound love and passion from the scenes in Tahiti. I wanted to be knocked off my feet by their love story, to feel that Brooke finally found what he was looking for. I wanted all the experimentation and sexual ambiguity of his youth to culminate in a one-time, all consuming 'I can now die happy' moment. - Perhaps that’s the romantic in me and is an unreasonable demand. BUT - I was deeply affected by the fact that Brooke died so young, that a major talent was lost too soon and for some reason if I was convinced that he'd found what he wanted in Tahiti it might have made his premature death more bearable.
Despite the Tahitian disappointment - I thought, overall, this book was absolutely fantastic and I will now be going out to buy more of Jill Dawson's novels. Her amazingly poetic and engaging writing style is, by far, the best I've read in a very long time!
Ally
August 24, 2010
April, 1982. Ninety year old Nell Golightly receives a surprising letter from Tahiti. A 67 year old woman would like to know something of her father, whom she never met. Somehow her letter finds its way to Nell, who worked as a maid, many years ago, at the Orchard House in Grantchester where the lady's father lived for a time. The man she is inquiring about is the English poet, Rupert Brooke.
This letter forms the basis for Nell's story. Beginning in 1909, she relates her life as a young woman working to support her brothers & sisters after their parents have died, and her meeting and infatuation with the young Cambridge student who comes to live at the Orchard. Rupert Brooke (his picture is above, beautiful isn't he?) is charismatic, charming, talented, even slightly wicked. Nell watches his interactions with women (and men) and despite both she finds herself romantically captivated and intellectually challenged by this fascinating man:
"Here we stop...and I acknowledge to myself the one hard fact that, despite my nature, it has taken me so long to face. There is no request Rupert could make of me that I would refuse. Whatever the pledge between me and God, this is the truth."
As a counterpoint to Nell's story, we get Rupert's own, told from his perspective in alternating sequences. Here it is revealed how much of his outer persona is a sham. He is terribly unsure of himself, sexually inexperienced, not confident of himself as a lover or a writer. He longs for peace, time to think and be alone with his thoughts, though he is constantly and almost randomly infatuated with different people.
"...There are only two ways of approaching relationships. One is only to allow love on the supposition that it may lead to marriage-the other is- the wandering way. And there are people made for the first way and perhaps people made for the second. But to introduce those made for the first to people made for the second is to invite pain and endless trouble....I'm a wanderer."
~Rupert Brooke, in a letter to Phyllis Gardner, 1913
The impetus to escape leads him to the Orchard House and eventually to Tahiti, where some of his best poems were written.
"I think I've always been a sucker for a sexy, brilliant, impossible man."~Jill Dawson
I love the above quote from the author's essay at the back of the book about how she came to write The Great Lover, "The First Tiny Throb: How a Novel Begins." I found her portrayal of Rupert Brooke fascinating, as the man himself must have been. I loved Nell, her intelligence and courage, her ability to look past her social class, her gentle confidence. Rupert was interesting but Nell was the star of this beautifully written novel.
This letter forms the basis for Nell's story. Beginning in 1909, she relates her life as a young woman working to support her brothers & sisters after their parents have died, and her meeting and infatuation with the young Cambridge student who comes to live at the Orchard. Rupert Brooke (his picture is above, beautiful isn't he?) is charismatic, charming, talented, even slightly wicked. Nell watches his interactions with women (and men) and despite both she finds herself romantically captivated and intellectually challenged by this fascinating man:
"Here we stop...and I acknowledge to myself the one hard fact that, despite my nature, it has taken me so long to face. There is no request Rupert could make of me that I would refuse. Whatever the pledge between me and God, this is the truth."
As a counterpoint to Nell's story, we get Rupert's own, told from his perspective in alternating sequences. Here it is revealed how much of his outer persona is a sham. He is terribly unsure of himself, sexually inexperienced, not confident of himself as a lover or a writer. He longs for peace, time to think and be alone with his thoughts, though he is constantly and almost randomly infatuated with different people.
"...There are only two ways of approaching relationships. One is only to allow love on the supposition that it may lead to marriage-the other is- the wandering way. And there are people made for the first way and perhaps people made for the second. But to introduce those made for the first to people made for the second is to invite pain and endless trouble....I'm a wanderer."
~Rupert Brooke, in a letter to Phyllis Gardner, 1913
The impetus to escape leads him to the Orchard House and eventually to Tahiti, where some of his best poems were written.
"I think I've always been a sucker for a sexy, brilliant, impossible man."~Jill Dawson
I love the above quote from the author's essay at the back of the book about how she came to write The Great Lover, "The First Tiny Throb: How a Novel Begins." I found her portrayal of Rupert Brooke fascinating, as the man himself must have been. I loved Nell, her intelligence and courage, her ability to look past her social class, her gentle confidence. Rupert was interesting but Nell was the star of this beautifully written novel.
April 29, 2016
I knew nothing of Rupert Brooke before starting this novel and not much about the politics and social movements in British society in the years before World War I. There are a lot of things I had to look up in Wikipedia just to make some sense of what was going on; the Fabian Society, the Bloomsbury group, just a basic bio of Brooke himself. I found so many of the references to be about things I knew nothing of that it interrupted the flow of the story quite a bit. I think if you have read a basic bio of Brooke, then this might add to that, but otherwise you might find it a bit confusing.
The character of Nell, a maid working in the house where Rupert lived off and on for a few years, is interesting, but as I read afterward that so many of her words and thoughts were actually those of various of his female companions/friends/lovers that I wish she had been her own character, speaking her own thoughts and that his women had spoken for themselves instead. Or maybe had I not read the author's notes I wouldn't have felt that way. A novel only about Nell would have been a more entertaining read, her talking to the bees and her family, her hopes and dreams.
Rupert seems to both dislike his darker side and to embrace his 'baser instincts' as he might call them. He seemed to be confused by his sexuality, to put it mildly, until near the end of his short life. How could this man who was so adored and admired by both men and women have such a difficult time getting a woman in bed?
Also, was sexual experimentation with one another common among young men of Rupert's social set? At that time, well-brought-up young women weren't even supposed to be in a room alone with a man, so did men, as Rupert and his friends seem to think, turn to one another for sexual knowledge and was that acceptable behavior?
If it seems that I'm focusing too much on Rupert's sex life, well, that seems to be mostly what the book is about. There are some bits here and there of working on a poem or his political writings, but it's mostly about how he can finally get a woman to say yes. And then finding that, perhaps because young women weren't told to enjoy sex or that it should be enjoyable for both parties, he didn't find it to be such fun after all until he finally found/loved a woman in touch with her own sexuality who helped him learn.
I felt very sad for Rupert Brooke, but I'm not sure I can say I exactly liked him. There are a few of his poems included in the copy I read and I did really like them. I'll look for a book of his poetry.
Having completed this novel, the person of Rupert Brooke remains a mystery to me, which possibly was how he saw himself as well.
Thank you to Goodreads Giveaways.
The character of Nell, a maid working in the house where Rupert lived off and on for a few years, is interesting, but as I read afterward that so many of her words and thoughts were actually those of various of his female companions/friends/lovers that I wish she had been her own character, speaking her own thoughts and that his women had spoken for themselves instead. Or maybe had I not read the author's notes I wouldn't have felt that way. A novel only about Nell would have been a more entertaining read, her talking to the bees and her family, her hopes and dreams.
Rupert seems to both dislike his darker side and to embrace his 'baser instincts' as he might call them. He seemed to be confused by his sexuality, to put it mildly, until near the end of his short life. How could this man who was so adored and admired by both men and women have such a difficult time getting a woman in bed?
Also, was sexual experimentation with one another common among young men of Rupert's social set? At that time, well-brought-up young women weren't even supposed to be in a room alone with a man, so did men, as Rupert and his friends seem to think, turn to one another for sexual knowledge and was that acceptable behavior?
If it seems that I'm focusing too much on Rupert's sex life, well, that seems to be mostly what the book is about. There are some bits here and there of working on a poem or his political writings, but it's mostly about how he can finally get a woman to say yes. And then finding that, perhaps because young women weren't told to enjoy sex or that it should be enjoyable for both parties, he didn't find it to be such fun after all until he finally found/loved a woman in touch with her own sexuality who helped him learn.
I felt very sad for Rupert Brooke, but I'm not sure I can say I exactly liked him. There are a few of his poems included in the copy I read and I did really like them. I'll look for a book of his poetry.
Having completed this novel, the person of Rupert Brooke remains a mystery to me, which possibly was how he saw himself as well.
Thank you to Goodreads Giveaways.
September 13, 2010
Rupert Brooke seems a fascinating man and a ripe topic for a book. His fluid sexuality and controversial beliefs beg to be explored. The Great Lover doesn't shy away from Brooke's non-traditional life, and through the combination of Brooke's own words and Dawson's imagination, a portrait of a rather eccentric man is formed.
The book is told through two characters, Rupert and Nell, with alternating passages. The use of dual perspective to tell a story can be elegant and revealing or it can be artificial and frustrating. In this case, I felt a mixture of the two. The voices were distinct, and allowing each to narrate part of the story offered telling glimpses into the characters. I did have some difficulty, however, with the separate perspectives as the two characters spend so much time apart. Using both voices, telling both lives, I felt added extraneous detail to the story. So much of what each has to say has so little to do with the other that I could see the two voices being different books.
This would be my main difficulty with the book. I felt that the story could have been told in half the time. Perhaps I just wasn't in the mood for minutiae. The book seemed to be about creating a world instead of telling a story. And while I'm typically a character-driven reader, I could not relate to either Rupert or Nell, and hence needed something of a plot to maintain my interest. After about page 100, I started skipping, sometimes entire sections. So much time was spent on sitting around, on passive voice reflections, on telling instead of showing, that I couldn't focus. And honestly, even skimming large portions of the book, I don't feel like I missed much.
That is not to say that this is not a good book. Reviews of this novel seem to be rather mixed, so I urge you to read the links I've provided below. I've always wondered if mixed reviews aren't a positive because while I was not in love with this novel, I would still encourage reading it for yourself because of the differing opinions. After all, I'm giving only one opinion - and it's a personal, not a professional one.
The book is told through two characters, Rupert and Nell, with alternating passages. The use of dual perspective to tell a story can be elegant and revealing or it can be artificial and frustrating. In this case, I felt a mixture of the two. The voices were distinct, and allowing each to narrate part of the story offered telling glimpses into the characters. I did have some difficulty, however, with the separate perspectives as the two characters spend so much time apart. Using both voices, telling both lives, I felt added extraneous detail to the story. So much of what each has to say has so little to do with the other that I could see the two voices being different books.
This would be my main difficulty with the book. I felt that the story could have been told in half the time. Perhaps I just wasn't in the mood for minutiae. The book seemed to be about creating a world instead of telling a story. And while I'm typically a character-driven reader, I could not relate to either Rupert or Nell, and hence needed something of a plot to maintain my interest. After about page 100, I started skipping, sometimes entire sections. So much time was spent on sitting around, on passive voice reflections, on telling instead of showing, that I couldn't focus. And honestly, even skimming large portions of the book, I don't feel like I missed much.
That is not to say that this is not a good book. Reviews of this novel seem to be rather mixed, so I urge you to read the links I've provided below. I've always wondered if mixed reviews aren't a positive because while I was not in love with this novel, I would still encourage reading it for yourself because of the differing opinions. After all, I'm giving only one opinion - and it's a personal, not a professional one.
September 14, 2010
The Great Lover is a fictional account of the last few years in the life of the poet Rupert Brooke. The novel alternates between two first person narrations, that of Brooke and the other of a fictitious maid, Nell Golightly, who works at a home where Brooke was a tenant. I felt that Dawson did an excellent job of creating a tormented, sensitive, talented character in her characterization of Brooke. Brooke's suffering (particularly his unease with his sexuality and the social/sexual mores of his time)was poetically communicated and felt realistic. My main problem with the novel was the character of Nell. I am often ambivalent about novelists creating fictional characters that play important roles in novels about real historical figures. When reading the author's notes, I discovered that many of the thoughts/experiences attributed to Nell where taken verbatim from the writings of Brooke's real paramours (who also appear throughout the novel). This felt dishonest to me as a reader; I would have preferred if Dawson had remained faithful to the facts. Dawson's poetic background is evident in her beguiling descriptions of nature, both in England and Tahiti.
Side Note: The American cover is beautiful but very misleading and doesn't accurately convey the content of the novel.
Side Note: The American cover is beautiful but very misleading and doesn't accurately convey the content of the novel.
July 7, 2010
I hadn't previously read any novels by Jill Dawson - I read this one quickly in a day and really enjoyed it. It's a fictionalised account of Rupert Brooke's time living at the Orchard Tea Gardens in Grantchester, and an imaginary affair with the heroine, Nell, a young maid who has grown up in a remote Fens village as a trainee beekeeper. (And is there honey still for tea?) The story is alternately told by Nell and Brooke -I was surprised to discover from the notes at the back that a long section where Brooke gives a joyful account of his first gay sexual encounter is in fact word for word from a real letter of his. The letter shines out as the most memorable part of the book, I'd say, and has left me wanting to read more about and by Brooke in the future, but I also really enjoyed Nell's descriptions of her childhood and her bee-keeping duties. I'm often tempted to read novels which weave in real people, but am sometimes disappointed by them - this was one of the best I've come across of this type of fiction.
May 8, 2017
Recently it seems I've read, or tried to read, a lot of novels featuring real people as characters, and I've not had good luck. They have ranged from "okay I guess" to "drop kick across room". So I approached this book about the poet Rupert Brooke and his fictional romance with a hotel maid with trepidation. But I thought it was well-written, atmospheric, and perfectly believable. I actually liked the made-up character, Nell. That is the good news. The less good news is that this is not a page turner. Took me forever to get through it. A few pages at one time was fine, after that I found my attention beginning to wander. It's not plot driven at all. But I tend to have a patience problem with stories that just meander along....someone who is less fidgety than me may have better luck.
August 5, 2012
I like Rupert Brooke, first disclosure. That helps with this novel, as does some knowledge about his life and relationships (despite the fact that the one that emerges as the most compelling is the fictional romance with Nell, the other "voice" in the book). Dawson doesn't spare Brooke the poseur, but for me, he became immensely sympathetic. I can remember being his age, and it seems to me that she gets the self-doubt and striving for fame exactly right. There is a passage in which Brooke discusses why he is both eager and terrified to see his work in print that struck me. I direct plays for a living, and that described my emotions every damn time I open a production! Very good if you like him, worth reading for Nell if you don't --- though Brooke will probably exasperate you.
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June 21, 2010Joe says:
Rupert Brooke wanted to be the Great Lover. He was adored by women and men, but he seemed to love only the idea of love. Based on a true story, pieced together from letters and stories, this novel is a delight to read. The action takes place in England, just prior to the Great War and captures a world that was about to end... the last vestiges of the British Empire. It took me a little bit to get into the language of the book, but by the time I got into it, I was hooked, and Jill Dawson didn't let me go until the end. Despite its setting, this is a thoroughly modern tale of the limits of love and lust.
Rupert Brooke wanted to be the Great Lover. He was adored by women and men, but he seemed to love only the idea of love. Based on a true story, pieced together from letters and stories, this novel is a delight to read. The action takes place in England, just prior to the Great War and captures a world that was about to end... the last vestiges of the British Empire. It took me a little bit to get into the language of the book, but by the time I got into it, I was hooked, and Jill Dawson didn't let me go until the end. Despite its setting, this is a thoroughly modern tale of the limits of love and lust.
July 26, 2011
Whilst I appreciate that this is a really well crafted, and well imagined fictionalised account of Rupert Brook's life, I just found the whole thing a bit of a chore. Brook himself was an eminently dislikable character and I found him to arrogant, pompous, self indulgent and rather petulant. I had hoped that the more earthy character of Nell would sustain my interest and engage me, but it wasn't to be. There was also a spelling mistake towards the end when "just desserts" was written as "just deserts" which really irritated me as the rest of the book was at least intelligent and well written, just a bit dull.
September 18, 2012
I had a mixed start with this one but really got into the characters once underway. The title makes you think it is going to be Chic-Lit-tastic but it's not. It's a fictional delve into Rupert Brooke and his stays in lodgings in Cambridge and his interactions with the bee-keeper maid. I know nothing about Rupert Brooke and so, those who do might find its fiction a liberty?? but I enjoyed the twists and turns of his theoretical mind and the way the differing relationships pan out.
I would be keen to read other books by this author who seems to have done a few others based around some nuggets of fact.
I would be keen to read other books by this author who seems to have done a few others based around some nuggets of fact.
March 20, 2013
Although I really liked Lucky Bunny, Dawson's latest, I just couldn't get engaged in this one right now and gave up fairly early on. The voice of Nellie was fine, but Rupert was just too flowery or artificial or something ... maybe the real poet was like that or it was the prose style of the period or whatever, but I couldn't get past it.
September 14, 2013
This was undoubtedly beautifully written but the whole thing was just a little, well, dull. Nothing happened to raise my pulse or level of interest and I didn't really care about any of the characters. Lucky to get a 3!
August 20, 2017
I loved the character of Nell and the wonderful sense of time and place but I found Rupert irritating and self-centered. I did enjoy, however, the part of the story regarding his connections to Tahiti and the time he spent there.
March 6, 2014
It was an amazing biography novel. It started out slow for me but in the end I could not put it down.
September 29, 2019
In this imaginative story the author uses the voices of her fictional character Nell Golightly, a housemaid at the Orchard Tea Rooms (where the poet lodges) and Rupert Brooke to create a very effectively executed dual narrative. Brooke, an extremely complex, not very likeable person, who often treated women badly, was confused about his sexuality and worried about his sanity, was portrayed with great sensitivity and insight. Nell's more grounded, passionate, yet innocent personality, afforded a powerful and engaging balance to the story. I found that the two voices remained distinct and convincing throughout, but that each added depth to the character development of the other. Consequently, as a literary device it worked well for me.
Jill Dawson's writing vividly conjured up a compelling sense of time and place, and her descriptions of Fenland pursuits , such as eel-catching, bee-keeping and fen-skating, were powerfully evocative. She captured well the contrasting lives of the privileged and the working classes, as well as the sense of a society on the verge of massive social change.
I enjoyed the construction of the novel: it begins with a letter from Brooke's illegitimate, now adult, daughter in Tahiti, who is requesting information about her father. Eventually this letter reaches Nell, now an elderly widow, still living in the area; it reminds her of her relationship with the poet and, observing that most biographers set too much store by facts, and not enough by feelings, she responds. The heart of the novel is then an account of her and Brooke's life during the period 1909-1915. The final section includes a letter from Brooke, laying out his last wishes in the event of his death, as well as his poem "The Great Lover", which he wrote whilst living in the South Seas.
The fact that the author had researched her subject so comprehensively enabled her to blend extracts of contemporary correspondence (from, to and about the poet) with her imaginative portrayal of him, in a consistent and generally convincing way.
For anyone who delights in the poetic use of language, who enjoys a well-crafted story - and who is prepared to envisage a "warts and all" Brooke- this is a book to savour.
Jill Dawson's writing vividly conjured up a compelling sense of time and place, and her descriptions of Fenland pursuits , such as eel-catching, bee-keeping and fen-skating, were powerfully evocative. She captured well the contrasting lives of the privileged and the working classes, as well as the sense of a society on the verge of massive social change.
I enjoyed the construction of the novel: it begins with a letter from Brooke's illegitimate, now adult, daughter in Tahiti, who is requesting information about her father. Eventually this letter reaches Nell, now an elderly widow, still living in the area; it reminds her of her relationship with the poet and, observing that most biographers set too much store by facts, and not enough by feelings, she responds. The heart of the novel is then an account of her and Brooke's life during the period 1909-1915. The final section includes a letter from Brooke, laying out his last wishes in the event of his death, as well as his poem "The Great Lover", which he wrote whilst living in the South Seas.
The fact that the author had researched her subject so comprehensively enabled her to blend extracts of contemporary correspondence (from, to and about the poet) with her imaginative portrayal of him, in a consistent and generally convincing way.
For anyone who delights in the poetic use of language, who enjoys a well-crafted story - and who is prepared to envisage a "warts and all" Brooke- this is a book to savour.
August 22, 2019
The Great Lover is another of Jill Dawsons ‘fictionalised’ accounts of real lives, following her 2006 novel Fred and Edie, based on the story of Edith Thompson, contraversially hanged for murder in the 2920s (which I also greatly enjoyed. This novel reminds me in many ways, too, of The Good Plain Cook by Bethan Roberts, a fictionalised account of a period in the life of Peggy Guggenheim.
It’s interesting, when I studied English Lit many years ago, English war poet Rupert Brooke, probably best known for his poem The Soldier (‘If I should die, think only this of me: That there's some corner of a foreign field. That is for ever England…”) was despised for his perceived poster-boy patriotism. This novel by no means idealises Brooke – in it, he is often self-absorbed, selfish, and irritatingly romantic (in that way we often are when young). Yet he is also sympathetic in many ways, troubled (again, in the way the young often are), struggling to find his identity, as a poet and in terms of his sexuality.
The basis in real events comes from Brooke’s time in the South Seas and the rumour of a child born there, and the rural Cambridgeshire setting of most of this novel. In the village of Grantchester, he encounters one of his romantic conquests, a pragmatic country girl Nell, and the story builds inevitably towards their affair across the class divide – if not love, then a passion that cannot continue.
Much pre-war nostalgia for a forgotten England of the countryside is there – dips and punting by the river, the hum of bees, honey and scones for tea, ripe strawberries, all for the picking. Only Nell is there to remind us of the cost of this idyll in terms of rural poverty. The detail and the description are wonderfully evocative and sensual, and though fictional, I loved and believed in the practical Nell.
The book just lost me a bit towards the end, to and fro between England and Tahiti. There are some wonderful scenes and vignettes, but the storyline did become somewhat fragmented.
It’s interesting, when I studied English Lit many years ago, English war poet Rupert Brooke, probably best known for his poem The Soldier (‘If I should die, think only this of me: That there's some corner of a foreign field. That is for ever England…”) was despised for his perceived poster-boy patriotism. This novel by no means idealises Brooke – in it, he is often self-absorbed, selfish, and irritatingly romantic (in that way we often are when young). Yet he is also sympathetic in many ways, troubled (again, in the way the young often are), struggling to find his identity, as a poet and in terms of his sexuality.
The basis in real events comes from Brooke’s time in the South Seas and the rumour of a child born there, and the rural Cambridgeshire setting of most of this novel. In the village of Grantchester, he encounters one of his romantic conquests, a pragmatic country girl Nell, and the story builds inevitably towards their affair across the class divide – if not love, then a passion that cannot continue.
Much pre-war nostalgia for a forgotten England of the countryside is there – dips and punting by the river, the hum of bees, honey and scones for tea, ripe strawberries, all for the picking. Only Nell is there to remind us of the cost of this idyll in terms of rural poverty. The detail and the description are wonderfully evocative and sensual, and though fictional, I loved and believed in the practical Nell.
The book just lost me a bit towards the end, to and fro between England and Tahiti. There are some wonderful scenes and vignettes, but the storyline did become somewhat fragmented.
January 19, 2020
I really enjoyed this book which has been on my TBR for quite a while, since hearing the author speak about bringing characters from history to life. Jill Dawson has done this successfully in this novel, alternating between the story of poet Rupert Brook and a maid called Nellie Golightly who works in the Orchard Tea Rooms in Grantchester where Brook has lodgings. We see the poet through Nellie's eyes as well as through his own narrative, and though he is sometimes hard to like, coming across as selfish, precious, and given to talking rather pompously from his upper class perspective about the British Working Man, we do also see someone who is much more vulnerable, struggling with doubts about his own work and his sexuality. The fictional Nellie is a wonderful character, just sixteen at the start of the novel, the eldest of several children who has to work to support her siblings when they are orphaned. She's a sensible, practical girl who has no time for romantic folly, and yet despite herself she falls for Brook, and this is when we see the best side of him. Through Nellie's family and fellow maids we also find out about some of the issues of the day, particularly the reality of childbirth for working class women and the campaign for women's suffrage.
I didn't know much about Brook before reading this and was fascinated to read that he travelled to the South Seas in search of a Gauguinesque paradise and apparently fathered a child there. The author's notes at the end of the book are interesting too, revealing how closely she drew on archive material and accounts from other members of the Cambridge/Bloomsbury circles Brook moved in.
Entertaining and beautifully written - I'd recommend this book.
I didn't know much about Brook before reading this and was fascinated to read that he travelled to the South Seas in search of a Gauguinesque paradise and apparently fathered a child there. The author's notes at the end of the book are interesting too, revealing how closely she drew on archive material and accounts from other members of the Cambridge/Bloomsbury circles Brook moved in.
Entertaining and beautifully written - I'd recommend this book.
May 26, 2024
he Great Lover by Jill Dawson (@jilldawsonauthor) gives a fictional glimpse into famous poet Rupert Brooke through the eyes of a young maid and bee keeper named Nell Golightly. Through their interactions she notices how all seem to fall for his charms and how he can't seem to be pinned down, leaving questions as to his preference or ability to love at all.
And I don't know how I feel about it!!
I loved Nell, I thought her story and character was fascinating and I loved being in her head.
The book goes back and forth between Nell's POV and Rupert's POV and I have mixed feelings about the use of that. On one hand both of them were fascinating characters (Rupert a bit annoying but in an interesting way?) but I wasn't always sure of the purpose. If you've read this, what did you think?
And Rupert... He was a very interesting character. Obviously fictionalised, but seemed quite real too. Such a self indulgent guy with a hella sensitive side, I got why he fascinated others but also tended to side with others who put him in his place!
In short I liked the book, but felt it lacked something, bit like Rupert... So maybe that was the point?
Have you ever read his poems? I quite enioyed the Great Lover (yes the title is a reference to this)
Have you read this book? Does it sound like your kinda book? Would love to hear your thoughts.
And I don't know how I feel about it!!
I loved Nell, I thought her story and character was fascinating and I loved being in her head.
The book goes back and forth between Nell's POV and Rupert's POV and I have mixed feelings about the use of that. On one hand both of them were fascinating characters (Rupert a bit annoying but in an interesting way?) but I wasn't always sure of the purpose. If you've read this, what did you think?
And Rupert... He was a very interesting character. Obviously fictionalised, but seemed quite real too. Such a self indulgent guy with a hella sensitive side, I got why he fascinated others but also tended to side with others who put him in his place!
In short I liked the book, but felt it lacked something, bit like Rupert... So maybe that was the point?
Have you ever read his poems? I quite enioyed the Great Lover (yes the title is a reference to this)
Have you read this book? Does it sound like your kinda book? Would love to hear your thoughts.
November 22, 2017
I didn't expect to like this book so much, but here we are. I loved this book with my whole soul. It touched me. I liked the love story, of course, but it was so much deeper than that. I liked Rupert, his doubts, his thoughts, his darkness, contrasted by the light and reason of dear Nellie. I didn't like Rupert for his behaviour: reckless, thinking he is better than everyone else, spoiled and quite unnerving. I loved Nell for her sensible behaviour, and the fact that she brings another point of view into the famous Rupert Brooke story. And I hated her also because of her "Miss Know-it-all" character, not accepting criticism. However, I would advise anyone reading this to re-read the prologue after finishing the book: so much things are enlightened, especially Nell's feminism and point of view of women's right, which mademe cringe all troughout the book tbh.
I'm actually studying this book in my English Lit class. This review will be updated.
What I can say at this point is that I love that the writer took all the great characters of the actual life of Brooke, and put them all in one character. By that I mean that lots of quotes said by Nell are actually said by Phyllis, Cathleen or even Noel.
I'm actually studying this book in my English Lit class. This review will be updated.
What I can say at this point is that I love that the writer took all the great characters of the actual life of Brooke, and put them all in one character. By that I mean that lots of quotes said by Nell are actually said by Phyllis, Cathleen or even Noel.
May 5, 2021
Definitely a novel, but closely based on the life of the early 20th Century poet Rupert Brooke. Much of the narrative is fictionalised, particularly the alternating chapters “written” by Nell Golightly, the bubbly, attractive waitress at The Orchard Tea Gardens in Grantchester, Cambridge, where Brooke establishes a pied-a-terre, away from the distractions of the university.
Nell is drawn closer and closer to the handsome, sexually uncertain young writer, finally consummating their relationship, ironically the final act of their endearing liaison. Brooke’s shy hesitancy in approaching women appears strange when we see him in a whole range of friendships with young women of his own class. The anti-feminism, shown against a backdrop of the suffragette movement, is surprising in someone we see as very liberal in his views. His angst at the seeming disappointment of his writing and his strained relationship with his parents all make him an empathetic character.
Towards the end of the novel we find Brooke in Tahiti, searching for a meaning in life and emulating Paul Gauguin. A strong mix of references to Brooke’s own writing and from biographical sources ensure the, although fiction, does give the reader a portrait of the poet. An interesting read.
Nell is drawn closer and closer to the handsome, sexually uncertain young writer, finally consummating their relationship, ironically the final act of their endearing liaison. Brooke’s shy hesitancy in approaching women appears strange when we see him in a whole range of friendships with young women of his own class. The anti-feminism, shown against a backdrop of the suffragette movement, is surprising in someone we see as very liberal in his views. His angst at the seeming disappointment of his writing and his strained relationship with his parents all make him an empathetic character.
Towards the end of the novel we find Brooke in Tahiti, searching for a meaning in life and emulating Paul Gauguin. A strong mix of references to Brooke’s own writing and from biographical sources ensure the, although fiction, does give the reader a portrait of the poet. An interesting read.
July 19, 2019
I have no idea who Rupert Brooke is. Maybe that was the issue. But pretty much everything about this book was boring and droned on. His thoughts on sexuality were interesting, and he had autonomy in his choices. But I really did not understand what Nell had to do with anything. She takes very little action for herself and seems unable to be happy because she’s so stuck on a man that she doesn’t even know anything about. The author clearly made an attempt to add color to her storyline with the suffragette coworker but it was not interesting enough to succeed.
August 29, 2018
The title piqued my interest, but like the character it refers to, it is multi faceted.
I love faction books and this was no exception. The book is honest in its portrayal of Brooke but also tender and empathetic.
The book centres around a bygone age and captures the middle/upper class and working class divide succinctly.
A great holiday read.
I love faction books and this was no exception. The book is honest in its portrayal of Brooke but also tender and empathetic.
The book centres around a bygone age and captures the middle/upper class and working class divide succinctly.
A great holiday read.
March 20, 2025
The beginning of this book intrigued me. A lady wanting to uncover some information on her famous dad. Then it all stops and 90% of the book is about his life away from them. Then at the very end almost as an afterthought the story returns to them. I enjoyed this book but was expecting more about his daughter and how their lives intersected.
June 16, 2025
My dad loved Brooke's poetry, so I was thrilled to find this historical novel about him. But he comes across here as a shallow, oversexed, manipulative, whining little twerp--incapable of writing the fine verse the real Brooke did. Use of the fictitious love-interest maid is clever, but the whole thing left me underwhelmed .
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