First published 2002
Lady Eleanor Butler meets thirteen-year-old Sarah Ponsonby and forms an intense bond that will define both their lives. Eleanor, unconventional and striking at twenty-nine, sees something kindred in the sensitive, withdrawn girl. Their friendship deepens over ten years until they make a shocking decision in 1778: they will run away together. Their families are horrified by the elopement. The two women escape across the Irish Sea and find refuge in a cottage in Llangollen, Wales. There they create an extraordinary domestic life that attracts both scandal and admiration. Their unorthodox partnership draws famous visitors including Lady Caroline Lamb and Josiah Wedgwood. Poets Wordsworth and Southey write verses beneath their roof. Other celebrities seek out their company. Elizabeth Mavor chronicles this remarkable fifty-year relationship, showing how two women built a civilized, generous existence that became the stuff of legend. Their story illuminates the possibilities and constraints of female friendship in an era when such bonds were both celebrated and suspect.
Genres: romance, historical-fiction, 20th-century, biography-memoir, 19th-century
Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: found-family, unconventional-relationship
Setting: Ireland, Llangollen, Wales
Period: 1778, 19th Century
288 pages · Paperback · Penguin Uk