Professor of Poetry E-bok

Moving and beautiful...this is a remarkable piece of work, empathetic, intelligent and genuinely poetic. -- Charlotte Moore Spectator McCleen doesn't make Elizabeth easy to like and this is part of the professor's charm. She doesn't "do" summer, most definitely does not do love poetry, and would like to teach Virginia Woolf a thing or two about semicolons. Particularly well captured is that streak of selfishness, often masquerading as self-sacrifice, that seems so prevalent among the gifted and the driven... an intricate tapestry in which past and present mingle to mesmerising effect... what eloquence! There are sentences here of such agile cleverness, charged with wit and beauty and enchantment. -- Hephzibah Anderson Observer It's McCleen's unflinching dedication to detail that will enchant readers. This novel has obviously been pored over, cherished and perfected...[her] graceful weaving through the present and past of her main character produces an intriguing - and original - story. Stylist Blissful and beautifully written. Saga McCleen doesn't make Elizabeth easy to like and this is part of the professor's charm. She doesn't "do" summer, most definitely does not do love poetry, and would like to teach Virginia Woolf a thing or two about semicolons... an intricate tapestry in which past and present mingle to mesmerising effect... what eloquence! There are sentences here of such agile cleverness, charged with wit and beauty and enchantment. Guardian A grand tragedy with an intimate focus...for those who readers sympathetic to Anne's regrets in Jane Austen's Persuasion, or who find richness in the academic wrangling of AS Byatt's literary sleuths and lovers in Possession, there is much here to adore. McCleen's manipulation of suspense is extraordinary - hope for Elizabeth's enlightenment lurks in the shadows of her insecurities and emotional blind spots, and exploration of these dark places renders the novel sinewy with tension...her Prufrock-like world is painted with bewitching vitality...the narrative sweeps with a sumptuous musicality. -- Beatrice Hodgkin Financial Times

Grace McCleen's first novel, The Land of Decoration, was published in 2012 and was awarded the Desmond Elliott Prize for the best first novel of the year. It was also chosen for Richard & Judy's Book Club and won her the Betty Trask Prize in 2013. She read English at the University of Oxford and has an MA from York, and currently lives in London.