Review of THE SWAN'S NEST by Laura McNeal (New Release)

 4 Stars

When I was an English teacher, I taught Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s Sonnets from the Portuguese (especially “How Do I Love Thee?”) and Robert Browning’s dramatic monologues like “My Last Duchess,” “Porphyria’s Lover,” and “The Bishop Orders his Tomb at St. Praxed’s Church”.  And of course I told students about the courtship and marriage of these two 19^th-century poets.  This novel, based on extensive research, is a fictionalized account of that love affair.

Elizabeth Barrett is already a successful, well-known poet when Robert Browning, a younger and less popular poet, writes to her praising her work.  An admirer of his innovative, obscure poems, she is ecstatic.  Robert begs to meet her but she has been confined to her home for almost her entire life because of a debilitating illness.  She keeps delaying their meeting:  “There must never come a day when Mr. Browning saw her as she was, a person, a body instead of a mind.  There must never come a day when she had to see him being disappointed in what she was.” 

Five months later, the meeting does eventually take place.  Romance blooms, but Robert has difficulty convincing Elizabeth to marry him.  She fears her father’s reaction, knowing that he will see the impecunious Robert as wanting to wed her because she has a degree of financial independence.  Elopement means a long, tiring journey for them, especially for Elizabeth because of her precarious health. 

Besides the love affair, the book touches on other topics.  Because some of the Barrett money is derived from a Jamaican sugar plantation, the issues of racism and slavery are discussed.  A subplot deals with Edward Barrett, the family patriarch, refusing to acknowledge the illegitimate child of his son and a black servant.  One of Elizabeth’s brothers is attracted to a woman, but her abolitionist views make her an unacceptable partner.

The differences between the lives of men and women are also depicted.  Women’s lives tend to be narrow and restricted.  Robert, for instance, though he cannot travel in luxury, is able to travel freely.  His sister Sarianna, however, is trapped by her gender, financial dependence, and family responsibilities.  While her brother is away, she is expected to look after her parents.  The sections from her point of view are heart-breaking; she asks herself, “how many times could you look at the same view?  The view that would be hers next year, and the next.”  Arabella, Elizabeth’s youngest sister, is in the same position.  Even though Elizabeth has money of her own, she is expected to do as her father wishes.  Englishmen in charge of plantations in Jamaica are free to have mistresses who are often abandoned to look after any children from these liaisons while “’the men are never punished, unless they are Black.’”

The protagonists are realistic because both are flawed.  Though we might know them as famous poets, Elizabeth has a laudanum/morphine addiction, and Robert proves to be naïve in his lack of preparations for their trip to Italy.  He has to be rescued by a woman!  The villain is certainly Elizabeth’s father who is a stern, controlling tyrant.  He believes he knows what is best for Elizabeth; he even refuses to send her to a warmer climate for the winter despite a doctor’s strong recommendations.  He wants none of his children to marry, probably because he is concerned about the family’s dwindling finances:  “Protecting a smaller and smaller fortune from lawyers and extended family has given him a horror of wills and additional descendants.’”  Elizabeth loves her father but she concedes that “his disapproval of men and marriages never stopped being what it was:  illogical and cruel to everyone except himself, benevolent and protective in his own mind.” 

One aspect that I found problematic is the point of view.  The perspective of various characters is given and that I enjoyed.  It’s just that characters appear and then disappear.  For instance, we are given the perspective of Elizabeth’s sister Henrietta but then she seems to be replaced her younger sister Arabella.  Sarianna is given attention at the beginning, but then she too is given short shrift.  As a consequence, the novel feels disjointed at times. 

I thoroughly enjoyed the book.  It is not just about the romance between Elizabeth and Robert; it also depicts the harsh realities of racism and the restrictions women faced at the time.  Whether familiar or not with Elizabeth and Robert’s poetry or love story, readers will find much to enjoy in this novel. 

Note:  Lovers of Browning’s poem “My Last Duchess” should also read The Marriage Portrait by Maggie O’Farrell, a novel based on that dramatic monologue (https://schatjesshelves.blogspot.com/2022/11/review-of-marriage-portrait-by-maggie.html). 

I received an eARC of the book from the publisher via NetGalley.