The Last Attachment: The Story of Byron & Teresa Guiccioli

by Iris Origo

The first to have access to the Gamba Papers, Origo mined this family archive to tell the story of Byron’s last love affair, a domestic triangle consisting of the poet, his nineteen year old mistress, Countess Guiccioli, and her husband.

Genres: History, Italy, Nonfiction, Greece, British Literature

320 pages, Paperback

First published January 28, 1949

About the author

Iris Origo was a British-born biographer and writer. She lived in Italy and devoted much of her life to the improvement of the Tuscan estate at La Foce, which she purchased with her husband in the 1920s. During the Second World War, she sheltered refugee children and assisted many escaped Allied prisoners of war and partisans in defiance of Italy’s fascist regime and Nazi occupied forces. She is the author of Images and Shadows; A Chill in the Air: An Italian War Diary, 1939–1940 (NYRB Classics); Leopardi: A Study in Solitude; and The Merchant of Prato, among others.

Reviews

[Anne · Rating 5 out of 5]

wonderful book!!!

[Richard · Rating 3 out of 5]

Beautifully written and very closely researched. But that's also a sticking point, because Origo's narrative follows the relationship between Byron and Guccioli beat for every beat. For those who are ready to sink deep into the story of their relationship and catch every development and nuance, Origo's book will be a dream. But for readers less committed, the level of detail can become wearying, even despite the author's exceptional gifts as a writer.

An excellent book for readers who come to it in the right mood. I didn't, but the strength of the writing and the depth of Origo's careful research still merits four stars.

[Mabel · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a hard book to review. It did not compare with Origo's book, War in Val d'Orcia: An Italian War Diary, 1943-1944, but that was probably due more to the subject matter than to the writing itself. In retrospect, I don't feel that the personalities of either Byron or Teresa Guccioli justified the time spent reading about them. I concluded that my time would have been better spent reading Lord Byron's poetry than reading about his final days. I think he knew what he was doing when he was writing but seemed to flail around aimlessly in living his life.

[Kelly]

one of my favs