Byron wasn’t my bestie in high school; Shelley was. (Still a fan, all of these years later.) But I remembered just enough to be quite curious about his life; all of the feels of high school English class and the prospect of reliving some of it are what made me request this DRC. All of which to say, I came to it not as most other readers will: I barely remember Byron’s work, never studied him, and really didn’t know much about his life except for the barest glimmerings.

Well! Arriving halfway through the book, I put it down because I was so exasperated with what an entitled predator Byron was. I read other things. Happily, when I picked it up again, he was writing Lady Byron to beg her to come back; and who doesn’t love to see a woman crush her abuser by refusing to return? Things got so much better from there, because I no longer had to wonder why English culture reveres him; it was settled in my mind that Byron was a complicated human, as we all are, and clearly had some undiagnosed stuff… And from there I could treat him like some regular old dead artist with a fascinating biography.

Because Byron was nothing if not interesting; his weird childhood and very weird mother; his life as a rather poor and then later apparently really rich Lord; his escapades at school and at college (which he could drop out of and still graduate, because of course he could); his misadventures in Society, and then becoming a pariah (good!) and exile; the endless travel—Greece, Italy, Greece again (I rather wish he’d made it to South America); his friendships and yes, his doomed marriage, and—ugh—yes, all of the sexual things. A truly fascinating character who lived an incredible life.

So. I do understand the reverence. Lord Byron gave us the most romantic (and actually completely dysfunctional) Byronic figure of literature. He was also, by all accounts, a fairly nasty and narcissistic human being (particularly early on in his life)—while also managing, in the end, to do a lot of good in the world. Stauffer’s excellent book excavates his life and character through ten letters he wrote, by relating and explaining Byron’s circumstances at the time of writing, and trying to guess at his thoughts and motivations. It’s a very well done character study, the evidence of what must be very long hours of work in archives and a resulting intimate knowledge of Byron’s life. And because Byron was so interesting, Stauffer’s book cannot help but be the same. (Even if it’s still entirely possible that what sealed the deal for me was all of the notes on and goss about Byron, Shelley and Mary together.)

A fascinating read, and well worth the many hours I spent on it. Highly recommended, even if you are only a marginal Byron fan. Many thanks to Cambridge University Press and to NetGalley for access to an early digital review copy.

I would recommend this book to someone who is somewhat familiar with Lord Byron and interested in learning about his life, the good and bad. I think the willingness to take an unflinching look at Byron’s life with a willingness to portray him as a whole human being, for better or worse, rather than looking solely at him in a positive or negative light, is the strength of this book. Its weakness lies in the fact that using just one letter for each chapter leads to some moments feeling rushed over; that being said, the book does a good job of summarizing the events when it does rush over them. I don’t really have any suggestions for improvement overall, as I think the pitfalls of this book are small and it benefits far more from the accessibility of the format than not. I wouldn’t be opposed to reading more from the author; his other works on literary history and the Romantics particularly do catch my eye.

The structure of the text is an interesting and effective choice, in my opinion: the author has picked out ten letters Byron sent to showcase different points of his life, summarizing the events between each letter and analyzing the letter contents as they relate to the events covered. Each chapter pulls its necessary weight accordingly though they occasionally do bite off a bit more of Byron’s life per chapter than they can chew. The linear storytelling at hand makes the text incredibly clear and easy to process. The writing style was consistent and easy to follow, though usage of modern slang like “frenemies” did occasionally jar me. Overall, grammar and spelling were adequate, consistent, and coherent; syntax was straightforward and word choice overall was clear and accessible.

Ultimately, I enjoyed this book and I definitely learned more specifics around Byron’s life, as someone with a fondness for his work who has mostly learned about him adjacent to other historical literary figures up to this point. I do intend to read more about Byron specifically, but I think if someone wants to get an overview of his life and who he was without significant bias and without spending a lot of time on it, this book is a good choice. I appreciate the publisher, author, and Net Galley for allowing me access to an advance reading copy of this eBook, and I’m glad I got the opportunity to read and review it.

In interested look into Byron's life. This collection creates a snap shot of Lord Byron's life. It really gives you a glimpse of him an a person rather that his larger than life persona.

I would recommend it to any history lover looking for a new perspective on Lord Byron's life.

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for an arc. All opinions expressed are my own.

Byron's autobiography was destroyed. In the exposition and analysis of the book, "Byron: A Life in Ten Letters", Andrew Stauffer has given us the next best thing. Through meticulous analysis and eminently readable prose Stauffer helps us unravel the mystery of who was Byron. Byron was a sensation, and with his legendary status and his faults published so wide, it's hard to get a clear picture of who he was and why he was such a sensation. This book however gives us a journey to that understanding. We feel the living Byron as he understood himself and his times.