Laurence Whistler's story of his five-year marriage to Jill Furse before her sudden early death has achieved a classic quality. Despite the tragedy of its ending the lasting impression is of two lives lived to the full in supreme happiness. Jill Furse was remarkable for many gifts; beauty, acting, poetry and above all gaiety and courage. This edition includes her poems. 'One of the most sustainedly beautiful [prose] poems I have read for a long time.' Lord David Cecil, Sunday Telegraph 'One of the most moving prose threnodies ever written.' Daily Telegraph 'One of the most poignant love stories in the English language.' Country Life 'Certain to have a permanent place in the literature of love.' Yorkshire Post