In February 1805 the Earl of Abergavenny set sail in convoy from Portsmouth for a voyage to India and China, captained by John Wordsworth, the younger brother of the poet William Wordsworth. On board were more than 400 passengers and crew. Only three days later, separated from the convoy by stormy weather, the ship struck the notorious Shamble shoal in Weymouth bay and sank, drowning 260 souls including her Captain.

From the harrowing accounts of the survivors and the detailed official and press reports if the disaster, The Wreck of the Abergavenny brilliant recreates this tragic event and its impact on John's brother William and his friends Coleridge, Charles and Mary Lamb, and many others. Dramatic, haunting and engaging The Wreck of the Abergavenny is an intimate and beautifully observed view of a family and the effects of tragedy. It is a masterpiece of narrative non-fiction.

'Hayter gives us intellectual as well as emotional excitement. . .beautifully crafted and a pleasure to read' Sunday Times

'Hayter's marvellous book is.a jewel of popular history writing' Kathryn Hughes, Literary Review