Despite being one of the greatest of English Romantic poets, George Gordon, Lord Byron’s (1788-1824) relationships with most of the women in his life: mother, half-sister, wife, daughter, mistresses — were at best volatile and at worst abusive and deplorable. Byron’s Women by Alexander Larman chronicles Byron’s dramatic and colorful life with focus on these relationships, allotting specific sections of the book to each. Byron, handsome and profligate, was a popular figure surrounded by an intense mystique, and in an era when neglect, illicit affairs and domestic abuse were viewed and managed quite differently from the way they are now, the account is thought – provoking. Larman’s book devotes to nine of Byron’s remarkable female satellites the attention and detail they deserve.
Alison M.
