A Search for Belonging in Wordsworth’s Lake District

All Before Me is a very interesting and unique account, of how the Lake District helped to heal one woman from a serious mental breakdown. While teaching in her early 20s in Japan, she suffered an acute breakdown, and was even section in a Japanese psychiatric institution, until she could be flown home under escort.

Back in England, Esther (though originally from Suffolk) was offered the chance to live and work at Dove Cottage in the lake District, the home of William Wordsworth and his sister Dorothy.

It was here that she began to heal. In the lives and writings of these literary siblings, she found an approach to living a life of peace and meaning, and also made lifelong bonds of friendship – and eventually love.

This book is a moving and absorbing account of the struggle to know oneself, and is intertwined with stories of the Wordsworth home and history.

About the Author

Esther Rutter is a writer from Suffolk, who now lives in Scotland. She has previously worked at the Wordsworth Trust and Robert Burns Birthplace Museum. She also works as a scriptwriter and appears on BBC Radio 4’s Woman’s Hour.