How Do I Love Thee?

Name: How Do I Love Thee?
Rating: 4.4 (86 reviews)

by Nancy Moser Book 4 in the Women of History series.

First published 2009

Amazon

4.2(86)

Elizabeth Barrett is already a respected poet but lives as an invalid under the controlling authority of her father, who forbids his children to marry. A letter from the younger poet Robert Browning begins an intense correspondence that develops into clandestine meetings and a love strong enough to challenge illness, family loyalty and fear.

Their secret marriage and flight to Italy give Elizabeth greater physical and creative freedom, but the decision permanently ruptures her relationship with her father. The novel draws on the Brownings’ letters and Elizabeth’s Sonnets from the Portuguese while imaginatively reconstructing private struggle. Christian love is presented as liberating commitment rather than passive obedience to abusive control.