A Sultry Month: Scenes of London Literary Life in 1846

Alethea Hayter's A Sultry Month is set in a short four-week window between mid-June and mid-July 1846, and it profiles a group of prominent individuals in the London literary world: Benjamin Haydon (a painter who would tragically commit suicide during the month), Robert Browning, Elizabeth Barrett (Browning's soon-to-be wife), Thomas Carlyle, Samuel Rogers (a wealthy banker and art collector) and Grafin Hahn-Hahn (an eccentric and trendy German novelist). The structure is a good one since it allows Hayter to go deep into her subjects' specific day-to-day activities; fans of any of these individuals will likely find the book quite engaging.