Judith Allnatt: The Poet's Wife
Judith Allnatt: The Poet’s Wife, published by Transworld
Description
It is 1841.
Patty is married to John Clare: peasant poet, genius and madman.
Travelling home one day, Patty finds her husband sitting, footsore, at the side of the road, having absconded from a lunatic asylum over eighty miles away. She is devastated to discover that he has not returned home to find her, but to search for his childhood sweetheart, Mary Joyce, to whom he believes he is married.
Patty loves John deeply, but he seems lost to her. Plagued by jealousy, she seeks strength in memories: their whirlwind courtship, the poems John wrote for her, their shared affinity for the land. But as John descends further into delusion, hope seems to be fading. Will she ever be able to conquer her own anger and hurt, and reconcile with this man she now barely knows?
The Poet’s Wife Front Cover
About the Author
Judith Allnatt lives in Northamptonshire with her husband and children. She is a
teacher, a published poet and an acclaimed short story writer, who was featured on
BBC Radio 4’s One to Watch – a showcase of talented, up-and-coming writers. Her
first novel, A Mile of River, was published in 2008 and shortlisted for the Portico
Prize for Literature.
Judith has been a fan of John Clare since she was a teenager. She was so moved by the letters he sent to his family while an inmate at Northampton General Lunatic
Asylum, that she felt compelled to explore Patty’s story in more detail.
Judith Allnatt
View Judith Allnatt’s Writer’s Profile on the Writing East Midlands Writers Database.
