Chaucer

Marion Turner

From Shelf: 2020 Shortlist

One of The Times' Best Literary Non-Fiction Books of 2019 One of the Sunday Times' Best Literary Books of 2019 Finalist for the PROSE Award in Biography and Autobiography, Association of American Publishers One of the Times Literary Supplement's Books of the Year 2019 Winner of the Rose Mary Crawshay Prize, The British Academy

An acclaimed biography that recreates the cosmopolitan world in which a wine merchant's son became one of the most celebrated of all English writersGeoffrey Chaucer is often called the father of English literature, but this acclaimed biography reveals him as a great European writer and thinker. Uncovering important new information about Chaucer's travels, private life, and the circulation of his writings, Marion Turner reconstructs in unprecedented detail the cosmopolitan world of Chaucer's adventurous life, focusing on the places and spaces that fired his imagination. From the wharves of London to the frescoed chapels of Florence, the book recounts Chaucer's experiences as a prisoner of war in France, as a father visiting his daughter's nunnery, as a member of a chaotic Parliament, and as a diplomat in Milan. At the same time, the book offers a comprehensive exploration of Chaucer's writings. The result is a landmark biography and a fresh account of the extraordinary story of how a wine merchant's son became the poet of The Canterbury Tales.