Synopsis
I believe every word you say. That was always my mistake.
Bright, promising Emma is entangled in a toxic romance with her old professor – and she’s losing control.
Cruel, charming Tom is idolized by his students and peers – confident he holds all the cards.
In their small Oxford home, he manipulates and undermines her every thought and act. Soon, he will push her to the limit and she must decide: to remain quiet and submit, or to take her revenge.
Written in verse and charged with passion and anger, The Poet is a portrait of a deeply dysfunctional relationship, exploring coercive control, class and privilege. It is also a page-turning tale of female solidarity and survival.
Review
This was an interesting story about toxic love, women being silenced, class, and revenge. As a novel written in verse, it uses its sentences sparingly so only what is needed to be said, is. There are some beautiful passages in this!
Focusing on an ex-student/professor relationship, this is slow to start before building in tension. For so few words written, this one does an excellent job of portraying anger, heartbreak and loneliness.
An engaging read and my first foray into books written in verse, I feel like this one would work incredibly as an audiobook, but it was also nice to see how each word and sentence were formatted in the physical copy.
Ad-pr product from Doubleday Books.
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐✨
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