I would recommend this book to someone who is somewhat familiar with Lord Byron and interested in learning about his life, the good and bad. I think the willingness to take an unflinching look at Byron’s life with a willingness to portray him as a whole human being, for better or worse, rather than looking solely at him in a positive or negative light, is the strength of this book. Its weakness lies in the fact that using just one letter for each chapter leads to some moments feeling rushed over; that being said, the book does a good job of summarizing the events when it does rush over them. I don’t really have any suggestions for improvement overall, as I think the pitfalls of this book are small and it benefits far more from the accessibility of the format than not. I wouldn’t be opposed to reading more from the author; his other works on literary history and the Romantics particularly do catch my eye.

The structure of the text is an interesting and effective choice, in my opinion: the author has picked out ten letters Byron sent to showcase different points of his life, summarizing the events between each letter and analyzing the letter contents as they relate to the events covered. Each chapter pulls its necessary weight accordingly though they occasionally do bite off a bit more of Byron’s life per chapter than they can chew. The linear storytelling at hand makes the text incredibly clear and easy to process. The writing style was consistent and easy to follow, though usage of modern slang like “frenemies” did occasionally jar me. Overall, grammar and spelling were adequate, consistent, and coherent; syntax was straightforward and word choice overall was clear and accessible.

Ultimately, I enjoyed this book and I definitely learned more specifics around Byron’s life, as someone with a fondness for his work who has mostly learned about him adjacent to other historical literary figures up to this point. I do intend to read more about Byron specifically, but I think if someone wants to get an overview of his life and who he was without significant bias and without spending a lot of time on it, this book is a good choice. I appreciate the publisher, author, and Net Galley for allowing me access to an advance reading copy of this eBook, and I’m glad I got the opportunity to read and review it.

In interested look into Byron's life. This collection creates a snap shot of Lord Byron's life. It really gives you a glimpse of him an a person rather that his larger than life persona.

I would recommend it to any history lover looking for a new perspective on Lord Byron's life.

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for an arc. All opinions expressed are my own.

Byron's autobiography was destroyed. In the exposition and analysis of the book, "Byron: A Life in Ten Letters", Andrew Stauffer has given us the next best thing. Through meticulous analysis and eminently readable prose Stauffer helps us unravel the mystery of who was Byron. Byron was a sensation, and with his legendary status and his faults published so wide, it's hard to get a clear picture of who he was and why he was such a sensation. This book however gives us a journey to that understanding. We feel the living Byron as he understood himself and his times.