Back
WORDSWORTH IN CHAINS opens with a confused and intense young Wordsworth who has just left Cambridge University. Despite his family’s misgivings he is determined to cross to France after the fall of the Bastille prison, the fortress on the east side of Paris, seen by the revolutionaries as a symbol of monarchical oppression. The storming of its walls had been a defining moment in the start of the French revolution and William is eager to experience the changes first hand.
On his arrival, he meets the beautiful Annette Vallon at a château in Orléans, the home of the nephew of a woman he has met while crossing. What happens between Annette and William, who immediately fall in love, and the entanglements that ensue, set against the escalating revolution, is the theme of the novel. Tense relationships, love, fear and passion, create a rich, compelling story, as Wordsworth attempts to resolve his various predicaments.
© Wendy Bardsley 2014
Wordsworth in Chains