In Pursuit of Love

‘A compelling experiment in biography-cum-memoir’ -- Times Literary Supplement

‘Bostridge elegantly and poignantly interweaves tales of amorous grief and mental illness.’ -- The Spectator

From Normandy to the Caribbean Islands, this innovative biographical pursuit follows Adèle Hugo on her reckless journey of unrequited love – and the writer who chased after her more than 150 years later.

It’s 1863. The daughter of the most famous writer in the world, Victor Hugo, who has ambitions as a writer and composer, suddenly leaves her family’s home on the Channel Islands bound for Nova Scotia. Adèle Hugo is in pursuit of a young British soldier, with whom she is desperately in love, but who has rejected her. She stalks him around the world to no avail, until she returns to Paris and is admitted to the asylum where she will spend the rest of her life.

Now Mark Bostridge sets out in pursuit of the truth about Adèle, following in her footsteps around the world over a century later. In so doing he recognises the source of his fascination with the aspects of Adèle’s life that reflect and parallel his own.

In Pursuit of Love is part memoir and part travelogue, as well as an invigorating new approach to the writing of biography.