<p><b>The first comprehensive biography of this undervalued writer, who was considered ''far and away the best living woman poet'' in her day.</b><br><b><br>Andrew Motion''s Spectator Book of the Year.</b><br><br>¿One of the many achievements of This Rare Spirit is its rejection of that tired view of the poet as mouse that barely roared in favour of a true sense of a spikily modern woman, bound by various obligations but resilient, headstrong, and poetically inventive . . . Copus¿s diligent, scholarly, sensitive work should help Mew¿s pipe play on for years to come.¿ <b>Declan Ryan, <i>Los Angeles Review of Books</i></b><br><br>''[A] supreme biography . . . It is hard to do justice to the breadth of research Copus has done here, or the compassionate, detailed conjuring of Mew and her milieu . . . An essential book, a classic work of literary biography.'' <b>Se¿Hewitt, <i>Irish Times</i></b><br><br>''[K]eenly intelligent, fascinating and nuanced biography . . . Save Charlotte Mew! And r