"Erica Wagner brings the secret history of T. S. Eliot and Mary Trevelyan to light in this gripping account of friendship, repressed desire, and heartbreak. Trevelyan was Eliot's loyal companion for nearly twenty years. Over intimate dinners and long country drives, he confided in her about his anxieties, desires, and haunting memories of his first wife Vivienne. But the platonic relationship ended abruptly. Trevelyan's revelatory manuscript offers a surprisingly fresh portrait of 'Tom' Eliot, and her own dashed hopes for a life together." –Heather Clark author of Red Comet: The Short Life and Blazing Art of Sylvia Plath
Reading this elegant, clever and moving book is like looking at Eliot through a lancet window: we get a tightly-focused and revealing view of one of his most important friendships, and a valuable understanding of how it relates to the panorama of his whole personality. An exemplary 'sort of' biography." –
Andrew Motion, author of
Philip Larkin: A Writer's Life "A completely fascinating, revelatory exposure of a forgotten corner of T. S. Eliot's amatory life–brilliantly curated, edited and annotated by Erica Wagner. A classic of its kind." –
William Boyd, author of
Trio "[
Mary and Mr. Eliot] is more than a memoir of knowing a famous poet; it's a dual portrait of a woman who hides nothing and a celebrity given to secrecy . . . How deftly Wagner transforms a scrapbook filled with gems into a revealing and ultimately tragic story." –
Lyndall Gordon, author of
Outsiders: Five Women Writers Who Changed the World "Mary & Mr Eliot is a testament to Trevelyan, who, as Wagner goes to great lengths to point out, was much more than Eliot's friend . . . it is impossible to read the book and not be struck by her energy, determination and strength." –Tom Williams,
The Spectator 'Erica Wagner shows herself to be a forensically astute reader of the memoir and letters that Trevelyan left behind.' –Kathryn Hughes,
Sunday Times
