Tennyson's Gift

‘Tennyson’s Gift’ is a distinctly frothy confection, an absurd farce set in 1864 amid the Isle of White arty set. I have a particular interest in Julia Margaret Cameron, a main character and pioneer of portrait photography, as I’m distantly related to her. Here, she moons over Alfred Tennyson while compulsively giving everyone unwelcome gifts. Like every character in the novel, she is very self-involved and rather silly, while also having a certain pathos. The humour is composed of interpersonal awkwardness, wordplay, and slapstick, deployed with a distinctly modern tone. I found the whole thing a pleasant distraction on the train and laughed several times (quietly, as I was of course in the quiet carriage). Jessie the show more precocious phrenologist was perhaps my favourite character; she stole every scene she entered. I admit to sometimes being confused by the similarity of Ellen and Emily’s names. It was a little odd that the narrative implied Charles Dodgeson had paedophile tendencies with such a light-hearted tone, although the reader is then reassured that his interest in little girls is not inappropriate. Although I didn’t get much insight into the characters as historical personages, I enjoyed all the Alice in Wonderland references and absurd humour very much. A bit of froth can be rewarding; this book is like a nice cappuccino. show less

This book offers a humorous hypothesis of one summer in the lives of Tennyson and Lewis Carroll. It is an engaging read; go for it!