Esther Rutter’s pre-recorded interview with Susan Mansfield as part of the Boswell Book Festival of Biography and Memoir.

William and Dorothy Wordsworth are an essential element in this powerful memoir of recovery from mental illness.

In her early twenties, Esther Rutter suffered a breakdown while teaching English in Japan. Sectioned and held in a Japanese psychiatric institution until she could be flown home, her recovery only began when she went to live and work in the Lake District, becoming immersed in the realm of the great poet William Wordsworth.

As an intern at Dove Cottage, Wordsworth’s home, at first Rutter finds the landscape itself alien and intimidating, and lurking among those hills is the fear of a regression into her mental illness. Slowly, she sets about drawing together from her surroundings the threads of her personal story, recovery, and the legacy of the Wordsworth siblings who brought her there.

Her search for a sense of belonging intertwined with the stories of the Wordsworths and the Dove Cottage community culminated in lifelong bonds of friendship, and – finally – love.

Buy your ticket here: https://www.boswellbookfestival.co.uk/2024/events/377