Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

Mary Delany's life story and art are amazing and enthralling. While Molly Peacock deserves credit for reintroducing Mary Delany's life and art, she misses the mark by injecting her own life and 21st century sensibilities. I've not read Molly Peacock's poetry, but she describes her early poetry as being sexually graphic, and unfortunately, graphic sexual images seem to be the reoccurring prism through which she sees Mary Delany's 18th century life and art, and it doesn't work. Similarly, Molly Peacock compares her life and family to Mary Delany's, and though she tells it in an engaging way, the book should be about Mary Delany, not Molly Peacock. I was intrigued by Mary Delany and subsequently ordered a 2004 British book, Mrs. Delany: Her life and her flowers, by Ruth Hayden, a descendant of Mary Delany's. This is the book you want to read if you want to know about Mary Delany, her life in 18th century England and Ireland, the people she knew, and her art.