Learwife

Learwife

Hardback Published on: 04/11/2021
In stock
Usually dispatched within 2-3 working days
Make and edit your lists in your account
Check click & collect stock near you
Collect today: Pay in shop

Synopsis

I am the queen of two crowns, banished fifteen years, the famed and gilded woman, bad-luck baleful girl, mother of three small animals, now gone. I am fifty-five years old. I am Lear's wife. I am here. Word has come. Care-bent King Lear is dead, driven mad and betrayed. His three daughters too, broken in battle. But someone has survived: Lear's queen. Exiled to a nunnery years ago, written out of history, her name forgotten. Now she can tell her story. Though her grief and rage may threaten to crack the earth open, she knows she must seek answers. Why was she sent away in shame and disgrace? What has happened to Kent, her oldest friend and ally? And what will become of her now, in this place of women? To find peace she must reckon with her past and make a terrible choice - one upon which her destiny, and that of the entire abbey, rests. Giving unforgettable voice to a woman whose absence has been a tantalising mystery, Learwife is a breathtaking novel of loss, renewal and how history bleeds into the present.

  • Publisher: Canongate Books
  • ISBN: 9781838852832
  • Number of pages: 336
  • Weight: 448g
  • Dimensions: 220 x 144 x 32 mm

Customer Reviews

View all
Learwife
This is an incredibly clever and absorbing novel.
In 'Learwife' ,J.R Thorp draws upon Shakespeare's play, and conjures up a clever, flawed and ambitious queen cloistered behind convent walls. Nursing the a... READ MORE
Clare Read
Learwife
Fascinating
I am a bit torn in this review. To sum up I loved the writing but it just went on way too long. It would have been far more admirable at a maximum of 500 p... READ MORE
Georgia Scott
Learwife
ARC
Word has come. Care-bent King Lear is dead, driven mad and betrayed. His three daughters too, broken in battle. But someone has survived: Lear's queen. Exi... READ MORE
The_secret_bookreview
Learwife
Shakespeare missed a trick by omitting Lear's queen
I like retellings and spin-offs; they’re a good way of extending the enjoyment of a story. I think this approach, though, is a rich seam: take a well-known... READ MORE
Anne O'Connell
Learwife
Lyrical, clever and impactful
Learwife is a richly layered, complex (and sometimes dense) book that beautifully charts the inner life of King Lear's wife- a queen, a mother, an outcast.... READ MORE
Robert Hughes