cover image Robert Graves: 2volume 2: The Years with Laura

Robert Graves: 2volume 2: The Years with Laura

Richard Perceval Graves. Viking Books, $24.95 (400pp) ISBN 978-0-670-81327-8

This incisively told, compelling story focuses on the passionate relationship between two leading poets of our time, Robert Graves and Laura Riding. A sequel to Robert Graves: The Assault Heroic 1895-1926 , it begins with the slightly shell-shocked WW I veteran Graves, a close friend of T. E. Lawrence, setting off for a teaching stint in Egypt accompanied by his wife and Laura, a menage a trois. The Mallorca years follow, a period that sees the production of much of Graves's best work, including Good-bye to All That , I, Claudius and Collected Poems ; the breakup of his marriage; and finally the defection of his fiery (also bossy) muse. Richard Graves writes of his uncle with cool objectivity, letting the emotionally and intellectually surcharged facts speak for themselves. Readers will look forward to the concluding volume of the trilogy. Photos. (Nov.)