It was as a small girl in Lincolnshire that Emily Sellwood first saw the boy Alfred Tennyson. Nearly thirty years later, in the year he became Poet Laureate, they married. What kept them apart and what eventually brought them together has never before been fully explored.

This major biography radically alters the picture of the poet's relationship with his wife, establishing in detail the person Emily Tennyson was. It is the story of a remarkable family as well as a remarkable woman, bringing into the foreground a neglected and often misunderstood character a century after her death.

'Meeting Emily Tennyson in the pages of Thwaite's enthralling book is pure delight.' Sunday Express

'A finely and deeply researched work, and clearly a labour of love ...She tells an ever absorbing story, and throws much light on that fascinating social area in which high art and worldly power meet.' The Times

'This fat and well-documented book will quickly establish its place in bibliographies of essential Tennyson background.' Literary Review

'A magnificent, surprising biography.' Lynne Truss, Mail on Sunday