William Morris - poet, designer, campaigner, hero of the Arts & Crafts movement - was a giant of the Victorian age, and his beautiful creations and provocative philosophies are still with us today: but his wife Jane is too often relegated to a footnote, an artist's model given no history or personality of her own.

In truth, Jane and William's personal and creative partnership was the central collaboration of both their lives. The homes they made together - the Red House, Kelmscott Manor and their houses in London - were works of art in themselves, and the great labour of their lives was life itself: through their houses and the objects they filled them with, they explored how we all might live a life more focused on beauty and fulfilment.

In How We Might Live, Suzanne Fagence Cooper explores the lives and legacies of Jane and William Morris, finally giving Jane's work the attention it deserves and taking us inside two lives of unparalleled creative artistry.

Lyrical...enjoyable * Mail on Sunday *
Jane is fortunate in her biographer * The Times *
Well researched and extensive * BBC History Magazine *
Fascinating * The Field *
[Cooper] traces the Morrises' shared and separate lives with clarity and judicious assessment * History Today *
Fagence Cooper succeeds, against the odds, in restoring some reality to our view of Jane Morris, giving a proper sense of a woman with striking gifts and talents identifiably her own * Literary Review *
Delightful, accessible and insightful * Church Times *
Jane Morris's creative influence on her husband's design empire has finally been revealed in a new book [...] the first joint biography of the couple will shine a light on their personal and creative partnership, and reassert the rightful place of Jane Morris - a skilled embroiderer and talented designer - in the history books. * Guardian *

Dr. Suzanne Fagence Cooper is a writer, broadcaster and curator with expertise in 19th and 20th century British art and culture. She spent 12 years at the V&A Museum, researching the Victorian collections, and is in demand as historical consultant for TV and film. She is an invited lecturer for the Arts Society and Cunard voyages. Suzanne was Research Curator for Ruskin, Turner & the Storm Cloud (York Art Gallery, 2019). She has written The Model Wife: Effie Gray, Ruskin & Millais and To See Clearly: Why Ruskin Matters. Her latest book is At Home with Jane and William Morris. She is curating a new exhibition, 'The Beauty of the Earth: May, Jane & William Morris' for The Arc, Winchester, opening November 2025. Follow her on Instagram & Bluesky @suzannefagence www.suzannefagencecooper.blogspot.com