How We Might Live: At Home with Jane and William Morris

Gently and sensitively written, I thought this book gave you a real feel for the lives of this couple. A very absorbing read - so much so that I was sad to finish it! Very highly recommended.

Instantly engaging, and thoroughly researched, this is an evocative art and nature-filled delight.If you don't know much about the Morris family, this will be a glorious introduction to them. If you've read any other books about them, you will still learn something new.I raced through this book, loving the informed, easy-flowing prose showing the everyday lives behind the art and politics .Jane Morris apparently said "Why should there be any special record of me when I have never done any special work?". This book shows Jane was more than worthy of special record, alongside her husband.A joy to read that would also make a great gift for anyone who likes the Arts and Crafts movement; would like to learn more about it; or is just looking for a pleasurable escape.

Having just been to see the Rossettis exhibition at the Tate I was really excited to read this. The exhibition worked hard to include Christina Rossetti and give her her due. It also looked at the women who were wives, muses and often fellow artists. Seeing Rossetti's infatuation with Jane writ large in the paintings he made of her, I was curious to find out more about her in relation to Morris and in her own right. This book tries its best to restore Jane to personhood rather than housewife, muse or sex object and it only partially succeeds in my eyes. That is largely to do with the fact that Jane was a fairly mysterious woman of low birth, who lived a highly unconventional life and did what she could to keep her private life as private as possible. There isn't a lot of evidence to tell us much about Jane except through the eyes of those who knew her and who had their own agendas. It attempts to empower both Jane and William within their life together and their complicated marriage and focuses on the things that worked, rather than the prurient interest of everyone else in what went wrong. I enjoyed most of it. The bits where the author has had to fill in the gaps, less so.