This is a collection of the writings of William and Dorothy Wordsworth, Coleridge, De Quincy and others, describing the life of the Wordsworths and their circle when they lived at Grasmere in the Lake District. The book starts with a description of William's early life, but its main focus is on the years 1799-1813, that period of sustained creativity when William and his sister Dorothy returned to the lakes and mountains of their childhood memories. Penelope Hughes-Hallett interweaves photographs and her own descriptions with extracts from William's poems, Dorothy's journals and the writings of a host of other contemporaries, to evoke a place and a time which became inspirational in the development of English literature. Penelope Hughes-Hallett's other books include "My Dear Cassandra", an illustrated selection of the letters of Jane Austen.