Told in prose poetry this short novel is based on the long standing affair between George Barker and Smart. If you are looking to go on an emotional rollercoaster then pick this up and have a read but be prepared to be wonderfully drained by the end.
March 2010 Guest Editor Susan Fletcher on By Grand Central Station I Sat Down and Wept...
I'll never be able to say that I enjoyed this novel. But no other book has had such force to it, or stayed in mind for so long afterwards. It is a slim book - a novella, really - but it is packed with all the passion, fear and anguish that Smart felt during her long affair with the married poet George Barker. Her story is tragic and awesome. Their affair lasted for decades, and Smart bore Barker four children - but he never left his wife, who knew of the affair. Her language is extraordinary - too dense, in places, for me to understand, but there are also many lines or expressions which are unbearably tender, or which bite very hard. It is, in many ways, an exhausting read - but it makes this list for being so wild and emotionally charged. It's an unforgettable book.
| Primary Genre | Modern and Contemporary Fiction |
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