The Great Lover [first edition]

In the summer of 1909, young Nell Golightly starts work as a housemaid at the Orchard Tea Gardens in Grantchester just when a new lodger arrives -- the poet Rupert Brooke, whose boyish good looks are already causing a stir. Nell soon realises that everyone he meets falls in love with him, while he remains flippant and flirtatious. And despite her good sense, even she begins to fall under his spell. What is his secret? Does he prefer men? Is he, in fact, capable of love at all? With great skill and playfulness, Jill Dawson gives voice to Rupert Brooke himself in this seductive and poignant novel. Revealing a man far more surprising, complex and radical than his romanticised image suggests, The Great Lover powerfully conveys the allure of charisma as it traces the mysterious workings of the human heart. Jill Dawson is the author of Trick of the Light, Magpie, Fred & Edie, which was shortlisted for the Whitbread Novel Award and the Orange Prize, Wild Boy and Watch Me Disappear, which was longlisted for the Orange Prize.