I'd been circling the tank on reading this one for a long, long time, and I'm so glad I decided to take the plunge and read this in the beginning of this year. I had to pause in the middle of it for some break-neck arc reviewing that was requested of me, but I dreamed longingly in the direction of this story the whole time.

I loved the constant dichotomies at play in this piece: upper and lower social class (defined by both in/out of country, and lower/higher part of a country), gender roles as per to education/employment, and the blurring line between the real world and that of the mysterious literary fey land of our dead author's famed poem. I loved the main characters; both of them were awkward and fiercely passionate in their own ways. I would not mind another novel in this world.