davidkober

I was drawn into this book immediately as the first chapter is set during the Great Fire of London in 1666. Mary Novik paints a clear picture of the panic and confusion and uses it to introduce her main character, Pegge Dunne as she struggles to rescue the statue of her father, the great John Donne, from St Paul's Cathedral as it burns to the ground. While Pegge is the main character in the book, the story is is dominated by her flamboyant father who in his early life was a poet best known for his erotica, but later became a clergyman and Dean of St Paul's and tried to hide his earlier work. Historically, not much is known about John Donne's family and it is here that the author has put her imagination to work, and the picture we are given of Pegge is that of a headstrong girl and woman and the child most like her famous father. Through her imaginings, we piece together the love story of John and his wife Anne, and we hear Anne's voice from the grave as she vows to return to the passion they shared when she was alive. We are also introduced to the character of Izaak Walton. He is best known to us today as the author of The Compleat Angler, or the Contemplative Man's Recreation, but he also wrote a biography of John Donne and Novik invents a love interest here as a way of explaining his association with the Donne family. In reading this book, I was reminded of Restoration by Rose Tremain. It has the same flavour and the way in which it is written does much to impart the prevailing culture of the age in which it is set.

2022-11-14 13:26