The Poet’s Wife is a fictional account of Clare’s mental disintegration and especially of the effects of his illness on his family. Narrated by Patty, this is a subtle and sympathetic portrayal of losing a loved one to mental illness. Patty’s voice is at once homely and poetic, and her lyrical descriptions of the rhythms and customs of mid-nineteenth century England – where it is unlucky to look at the moon through glass, and where a bundle of corn is left in the field at the end of every harvest, like an offering to the gods – are at the heart of the novel.

Through these evocations of her country girlhood, questions arise about her relationship with John. Is it just Clare’s illness that has triggered his obsession with Mary? Has he only loved Patty with “part of his heart”? That the answers are never quite clear, even to Patty, is what makes Judith Allnatt’s novel memorable.

The Times Literary Supplement
April 2010

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Set against a backdrop of changing times as industrialisation runs roughshod over the traditions of the countryside, this novel will leave you reaching for the nearest copy of John Clare’s powerful poems.

The Daily Mail
April 2010

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The poet is the great John Clare, the first “people’s poet”, who wrote so beautifully about love and nature and went insane. One day in 1841 Clare escapes from the asylum and comes home – but he thinks he has married his childhood sweetheart, Mary, who has been dead for three years. His real wife, the long-suffering Patty, is baffled – she thought she had married an ordinary farm labourer, and struggles to understand her husband’s genius and his madness. She still loves him, but he does not recognise her or their children. Clare often pops up in fiction, but it was high time someone rescued his poor wife from footnote-land.

Allnatt (herself a poet) gives her an affecting, beautifully written afterlife.

Kate Saunders, The Times
Feb 2010

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There is an old saying that genius is only one step from madness… And when that boundary is crossed and a once gifted brain has become mired in its own delusions, what happens to those who are their nearest and dearest? This is the fascinating conundrum posed by Judith Allnatt in her exquisitely detailed evocation of the devastating obsessional illness that haunted the latter years of 19th century peasant poet John Clare.

Allnatt is no stranger to soul-searching novels … her much-acclaimed debut, A Mile of River, was shortlisted for the Portico Prize for Literature. The Poet’s Wife is another emotionally intelligent and daringly inventive insight into the workings of a troubled mind…. a subtle, moving and perceptive account of a wife bewildered by her husband’s erratic behaviour in an age when there was little understanding of mental illness. A classy and compelling read…

Pam Norfolk, Lancashire Evening Post
Feb 2010

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The Poet’s Wife by Judith Allnatt – Hardback Book of the Month
This is a beautifully written, poignant novel, lyrically descriptive of the landscape, detailed in the country life of the time and reminiscent of the gentle style of the genius peasant poet.

Sue Dobson & Simon Evans, Choice Magazine
March 2010

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This is a fascinating, compelling book, written with subtlety and a delicate touch. It is a tender family portrait, weaving together the daily struggle and acute observations of the woman who was married to John Clare and the bewildering effects of madness at a time when mental illness was little understood. The novel is brimming over with convincing details about rural life in the nineteenth century. Through the eyes and language of his wife, we can see, smell and feel the rich beauty of the countryside which inspired the poet.

Clare Morrall
Oct 2009

Download and read an extract from: The Poet’s Wife