Description
The romance between Elizabeth Barrett and Robert Browning is a beautiful one. How can love between two poets be anything else? They wrote to one another, referenced one another in poems, and found a way to secretly marry against the wishes of Elizabeth’s family and despite her chronic illness.The Swan’s Nest is as beautiful as a novel about two poets deserves to be. It is rich and melancholy, with several exquisite sensory details that linger in the mind.
It is also difficult to get into. The short chapters make it difficult for readers – especially those with only a passing familiarity with either of the poets – to gain a foothold in the story. Aside from the sensory details I mentioned above, there is little actual description, leaving readers to guess what the characters and the world they pass through look like. We are given frequent looks into those characters’ minds, but those are more often thoughts than feelings, contributing to the distant and melancholy feeling of the text.
The Swan’s Nest is beautiful, but I found it difficult to enjoy. It will appeal to those who love the poetry of Barrett and Browning far more than to more casual readers of historical fiction.
