 Writing for "The Washington Post", editor Ron Charles notes that the book is not the biography of Clare but "its finely tuned sympathy will bring you close to the soul of an exuberant poet".Charles also notes that the most moving parts of the book are of the episodes where Clare is wandering in the forest.The review in "New Statesman" appreciates Foulds for penning Clare's character that thinks in poems and also deemed Dr Allen and Tennyson's scenes together as awkward because of the historical nature of the book.