The year is 1909, and the English poet Rupert Brooke has not yet achieved the fame that will result from his chronicles of the First World War. He is still relatively unknown, living in Cambridgeshire at the modest Orchard Tea Gardens, a "Quiet and Select Up-river Resort on the Banks of the Granta, close to the Mill and offering Breakfasts, Light Luncheons and Teas for large or small Boating or Cycling parties".
Seventeen-year-old Nell Golightly is forced to seek employment at the Orchard after the sudden death of her bee-keeper father; with both parents now dead, it falls to Nell as the oldest girl to support her younger siblings. She is intelligent and hard-working, and makes excellent progress at her new place of work – until, that is, the arrival of the charismatic and dangerously impulsive young poet who is to upset her sheltered world.
A Poet Famed for His Looks
Despite his poetry being as yet unknown, Rupert is already attracting attention for his looks. Yet when he arrives at the Orchard he is a virgin, forever falling in lust but yet to fall in love. It is not long before Nell, with her beautiful violet eyes, takes his fancy; before she fully knows what is going on, she finds herself in a dangerous position, taking naked swims with a young man who likes to flout convention and steal kisses when he can.
Yet this is not a simple and predictable love story. Rupert Brooke prides himself on being "the Great Lover...I am a Poet, so I must be the one doing the loving." He forms many attachments over the course of the novel, both male and female, and poor Nell finds her emotions torn – a particularly painful episode sees her washing the sheets after a homosexual encounter that she herself has overheard.
Dual Perspective Narrative Viewpoint
The novel switches between two narrators, so that we alternately hear the voices of Nell and Rupert. This is a particularly effective technique, as often the same event is seen from two differing perspectives; Rupert, for example, feels great shame that Nell has had to wash the incriminating sheets. Dawson proves adept at creating two convincing voices; Nell must deal with constant hardships, such as the harrowing stillbirth of her young sister's baby, while Rupert's life is concerned entirely with love, poetry, and ensuring a steady supply of cream for his tea.
The novel may irritate purists, as Dawson's work is unashamedly fictional, inventing episodes in the life of a real person. However, it is likely that the book will stimulate interest in his work, as many readers will want to investigate further the career of Rupert Brooke the poet having been granted a glimpse into the life of Rupert Brooke the great lover.
The Great Lover by Jill Dawson is published in paperback in the UK by Sceptre (2009), ISBN 978-0-340-93566-8.
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