I thoroughly enjoyed this very readable biography. It covers five years (1811 to 1816) of the life of George Noel Gordon Byron (1788-1824) and took me just a week to read.

Quennell begins with the poet's rapturous return to England after his tour of Turkey and Greece and his swim of Hellespont. "Childe Harold 1" , written on tour, was blessed with reviews, published soon after, and he immediately found himself a society darling, though it was also marked by him mourning his mother's death.

Naturally, the gifted and handsome Byron relished his new found fame and the attentions of many attractive and clever society women. Byron's affair with Lady Caroline Lamb, (begun shortly after his acclaimed 'Framework Knitters' speech in the House of Lords), his marriage to Annabella Milbanke, and his possible relationship with his half sister, Augusta Leigh, and others, are discussed. Byron, a bisexual, had a voracious sexual appetite and exercised it to the full.

Predictably, it concludes with the salacious scandals that led to his social downfall in literary and London society. These forced him to leave for his friends in Switzerland (via Dover and up the Rhine), never to return to Britain again.

Very much recommended (it also contains quite a few of Byron's poems) and I'm now going to start Quennell's, 'Byron in Italy'!

I thoroughly enjoyed this very readable biography. It covers five years (1811 to 1816) of the life of George Noel Gordon Byron (1788-1824) and took me just a week to read.

Quennell begins with the poet's rapturous return to England after his tour of Turkey and Greece and his swim of Hellespont. "Childe Harold 1" , written on tour, was blessed with reviews, published soon after, and he immediately found himself a society darling, though it was also marked by him mourning his mother's death.

Naturally, the gifted and handsome Byron relished his new found fame and the attentions of many attractive and clever society women. Byron's affair with Lady Caroline Lamb, (begun shortly after his acclaimed 'Framework Knitters' speech in the House of Lords), his marriage to Annabella Milbanke, and his possible relationship with his half sister, Augusta Leigh, and others, are discussed. Byron, a bisexual, had a voracious sexual appetite and exercised it to the full.

Predictably, it concludes with the salacious scandals that led to his social downfall in literary and London society. These forced him to leave for his friends in Switzerland (via Dover and up the Rhine), never to return to Britain again.

Very much recommended (it also contains quite a few of Byron's poems) and I'm now going to start Quennell's, 'Byron in Italy'!