Many know the public Yeats but few have managed to penetrate to the inner man, or to explore the relationship with his much younger wife, George. Here Brenda Maddox brings all her talents to bear on one of the most written about but least understood literary giants of the twentieth century.

'A stylish, less than entirely reverent and often deeply touching account of the strains of living with a scatty, splendid genius . . . An unqualified delight from start to finish' Observer

'What emerges is not simply the best account we have of Yeats's tricky private life, but an extraordinarily illuminating rereading of his poetry. Maddox uses his work with the lightest touch, never falling into unthinking autobiographical interpretation, but always paying due care to its formal properties. The result is a complex, elegant delight' Literary Review