Desperate Romantics
The Private Lives of the Pre-Raphaelites
Franny Moyle(Author)
John Murray Publishers Ltd
Published on 31. December 2025
Book
Paperback/Softback
352 pages
978-0-7195-2200-0 (ISBN)
Description
Their Bohemian lifestyle and intertwined love affairs shockingly broke 19th Century class barriers and bent the rules that governed the roles of the sexes. They became defined by love triangles, played out against the austere moral climate of Victorian England; they outraged their contemporaries with their loves, jealousies and betrayals, and they stunned society when their complex moral choices led to madness and suicide, or when their permissive experiments ended in addiction and death. The characters are huge and vivid and remain as compelling today as they were in their own time. The influential critic, writer and artist John Ruskin was their father figure and his apostles included the painter Dante Gabriel Rossetti and the designer William Morris. They drew extraordinary women into their circle. In a move intended to raise eyebrows for its social audacity, they recruited the most ravishing models they could find from the gutters of Victorian slums. The saga is brought to life through the vivid letters and diaries kept by the group and the accounts written by their contemporaries. These real-lie stories shed new light on the greatest nineteenth-century British art.
Reviews / Votes
'The scandalous saga of the Pre-Raphaelite brotherhood, brought to life through the vivid letters and diaries' -- Bookseller 'Very well researched ... Moyle achieves an unusual level of empathy ... the story is certainly inflammatory' -- Time Out 'For sheer, scabrous fun it is hard to imagine a better offering than Franny Moyle's Desperate Romantics ... an utterly gripping read' -- International ExpressMore details
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Hodder & Stoughton General Division
Dimensions
Height: 200 mm
Width: 140 mm
ISBN-13
978-0-7195-2200-0 (9780719522000)
Copyright in bibliographic data is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or its licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Person
Franny Moyle has a degree in English and History of Art from St John's College, Cambridge. She has played a key role in the BBC's arts programming, most recently as Commissioner of Arts and Culture across the BBC's four main channels. A year ago she left to pursue her own projects and is now a freelance executive producer, handling some of their major cultural series. She is a director of the Hackney Empire, near her home in East London, and is married with three children.