Young Eliot marks both a milestone and a turning point... [It] is judicious, sympathetic, meticulous.... The story it tells of a great poet's early life is enthralling.
Robert McCrum
Observer
This is an exemplary book... I look forward to the second volume eagerly.
Stuart Kelly
Scotsman
A masterful biography of ... Read morethe canonical modernist... Drawing on sources not available to previous biographers, the author fashions an authoritative, nuanced portrait... Although Crawford modestly claims that his biography is neither official nor definitive, it is unlikely to be surpassed.
Kirkus
Crawford's superb biography, of which this is the first of two volumes, must now be regarded as the standard work. It does not diminish or tarnish Eliot's reputation. On the contrary, it makes one want to return to the poems and read them again and again.
Alan Taylor
Herald
Crawford's case is sensitive and compelling, and his account - especially of Eliot's childhood and student years - is more richly detailed than any previous biographer's.... A powerful and enlightening book.
John Carey
Sunday Times
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