 The book is based on the historical backdrop of a mental asylum run by Matthew Allen at High Beach in late 1830s and 1840s which had English poet John Clare admitted therein.Alfred, Lord Tennyson, another notable poet of the era, moves to High Beach to get his brother Septimus treated and Alfred, himself, has to overcome depression after the death of his close friend Arthur Hallam.The book narrates Clare's life, the asylum's effects on both poets and bases its storyline on the popular speculation of whether Clare and Tennyson had ever met.