Conceit

Blurb

Conceit is a novel by the Canadian author Mary Novik, published in 2007 by Doubleday Canada.
Set in 17th century London, Conceit is the story of Pegge Donne, the daughter of the metaphysical poet John Donne, a contemporary of Shakespeare. Other fictional characters based on historical people are Donne's wife Ann More, the diarist Samuel Pepys, the fisherman Izaak Walton and, appearing briefly, Christopher Wren. Both old and new St Paul's Cathedral and the Great Fire of London 1666 feature in the novel, which has been praised for bringing London vividly to life. The story is told from the point of view of several characters, including Pegge and her parents Ann and John Donne. Featured in the narrative are Donne's love poems, his Devotions, and his sermons—in particular, Death's Duel, a sermon the moribund Donne preached to Charles I. The novel also draws upon Izaak Walton's 1640 biography, more myth than history, The Life of Dr John Donne, leading Donne scholar Jeanne Shami to call Conceit a "great novel based on a poor one."
After the clandestine marriage to Ann More that ruined his career, John Donne reportedly said, "John Donne. Ann Donne. Undone."