Jennifer Wallace (1)

I really enjoyed this as a quick read. It has a lot of interesting points and is written in a lively way. The premise is the discovery and exhumation of the poet John Milton's body and the fate that befalls the people who interact with the body. The style captures the rhythms of Georgian writing well, and the characters are all believable and sympathetic. We follow the story through the experiences of Lizzie Grant, a young woman married to an older man. As well as married life, London parish life, and all that surrounds the existence of working class Londoners at the end of the 18th century, we learn about Milton's revolutionary past and the agitation among some that echoes the revolution happening in France. At the start of each chapter is a clever device - a passage is quoted from each of the books of Paradise Lost that gives a flavour of what is covered in the chapter. Lizzie Grant is, of course, an illiterate woman, as would be the case with someone of her social standing at the time, so there is a question of how reliable her testimony is. The question is answered at the end of the book and raises the issue of how women of Lizzie's class only had a voice when it was filtered through that of a man. I thought the book worked very well and would read something by Jennifer Wallace again.… (more)