'Dennis Low's admirably lucid and intelligent book gives us a thoughtful, frequently illuminating study of what often has been viewed as a gap in the production of major English literature during the twenty or so years after the deaths of Keats, Shelley and Byron. Focusing on four women—Caroline Bowles, Maria Gowen Brooks, Sara Coleridge and Maria Jane Jewsbury—and the ways in which they were encouraged and advised by, variously, Wordsworth, Coleridge, and Southey, this interesting work adds valuably to the study of neglected but significant women poets and their literary relationships. Low deserves an appreciative audience.' (Paul Betz, Professor of English, Georgetown University).

'...(a) well-researched case-history study of literary mentorship... a worthy addition to Ashgate's Nineteenth Century series, ... fulfils some of its admirable aims, to cut across the parameters of "Romantic" and "Victorian", and to draw attention to non-canonical writers.' (Times Literary Supplement)

‘…a mixture of literary biography and valuable critical commentary ... interesting and enjoyable…’
(Review of English Studies)