The story we know begins with a challenge from a brash American woman: Who killed Cock Robin? From the start, poetry was their trysting-place and battleground: Sylvia read Ted's poetry before she met him, confronting the handsome young poet with his own words at their first encounter, one cold Cambridge night.

In prose, Emma Tennant takes us beyond the familiar outlines of their legend, imbuing the story with the heightened symbolism of an epic drama. From the scarlet lipstick and headband Sylvia wore the night they first met, to the yards of red corduroy curtains left unfinished at her death, Tennant constructs a ballad from unforgettable images that tap into our very nerve endings. As Sylvia and Ted struggle to create both life and art, their duet becomes a duel - creating a powerful vortex of sensation and passion that draws everyone into its path, including Slyvia's darkly beautiful rival, Assia Wevill.