Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Meet the author: Kathleen Winter on new novel Undersong

Kathleen Winter
Kathleen Winter

It is a “friendship” that has spanned centuries and the grave. Montreal-based writer Kathleen Winter grew up in the UK where she enjoyed holidays in the Lake District walking in the footsteps of Victorian writer Dorothy Wordsworth, thought to be the creative wind beneath the wings of her Poet Laureate brother William.

Winter’s affinity with the Wordsworth girl later blossomed when, in her 20s and living on the other side of the Atlantic, she lost herself in the beauty of her published diaries, written when Dorothy was herself in her 20s and carving out a seemingly idyllic life alongside her brother, his wife and their circle of literary legends that included Samuel Coleridge, Thomas de Quincey and William Blake.

But it was another four decades and the discovery of the little known, and never before published diaries Wordsworth’s sister had written in her 60s that Winter, now 63, realised the possibility for a novel. Winter’s third novel Undersong, now out in paperback, evokes the lives of the Wordsworth family, their triumphs and struggles, and the complex “undersong” of Dorothy, a woman determined to exist on her own terms despite the constraints foisted on women by Victorian society.

Of its writing, Winter tells P.S: “I was so captivated by Dorothy Wordsworth’s diaries from my youth, I would have written this book even if my family hadn’t emigrated. It was the connection that I felt with her; her personality was so strong it was like coming home. Dorothy and I were the same age – our early 20s – when she wrote, and I read her diaries. Interestingly I was 59 when I read the diaries she wrote later in life, when she too was 59. I felt the kinship of age in both my youthful readings and these now.”

Winter was reading at a literary festival in Ullapool four years ago when she decided to cross the border into the Lake District to revisit her old haunts. While she was there, poet Polly Atkin revealed the existence of the later diaries, in the care the Wordsworth Trust. Its principal curator Jeff Cowton agreed Winter could transcribe photographs made of Dorothy’s entries for the years 1830 and 1834.

She recalls: “I woke every morning with a feeling of discovery, because I got to be with Dorothy that morning in a way that nobody else had since the morning itself. I was with her for the little things and for the historic; the great literary icons who had come to visit them that day, like Coleridge who she loved. I read the part where she discovered he died. It was like being with her at that very moment.”

Winter’s novel though is not told in Dorothy’s voice but in that of James Dixon, who in real life worked as a handyman to the Wordsworth family. Half Dorothy’s age, he cherished her. Winter says: “I did not want to write an approximation of Dorothy. I couldn’t do it, she is too exquisite. Instead, I want people to read my book and then read her work.”

Only in the last section of the novel is the reader treated to the voice of the woman who died in 1855 aged 83. It is revealed in a stream of consciousness, that is according to its creator “an emotionally weighted prose poem.” Winter says: “You could read the whole book without reading that section and you’ll get the story but if you do read it you’ll get more.”


Kathleen Winter – Undersong, Vintage Canada, £14.99