Books

Many of Suzanne's publications are available from Waterstones:
https://www.waterstones.com/author/suzanne-fagence-cooper/168576

How we might live: At Home with Jane and William Morris

published by Quercus 2022

'The house that would please me would be some great room, where one talked to one’s friends in one corner, and ate in another, and slept in another, and worked in another.’

William Morris – poet, designer, campaigner, hero of the Arts & Crafts movement – was a giant of the Victorian age. His beautiful creations and radical 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 partnership was the central collaboration of both their lives. Together they overturned conventional distinctions between work and play, public and private spaces, women and men, even the Victorian class structure. At every stage, Jane was transformative, hospitable and engaged. 

The homes they made together – at Red House, Kelmscott Manor and their houses in London – were works of art, and the great labour of their lives was life itself. Through their houses, their friendships and their creations, they experimented with fruitful ways of living and working. They show us how we might enjoy lives filled with hope and beauty.

In How We Might Live, I explore the lives and legacies of Jane and William Morris, finally giving Jane’s work the attention she deserves and taking us inside two lives of unparalleled integrity and artistry.

To See Clearly: Why Ruskin Matters
published 2019 by Quercus

A personal introduction to Ruskin's life and legacy.
'To See Clearly' offers encouragement and insights, especially about Ruskin's ways of showing the interconnectedness of art and nature.

The Ruskin Revival 1969-2019
published by Pallas Athene in 2019

To commemorate the 200th anniversary of Ruskin's birth, this study looks at the legacy of his work, at his house in Brantwood, at the Ruskin Library in Lancaster, and through the collections he gave to Sheffield. It shows how he continues to inspire scholars, gardeners, poets and ecologists.

Ruskin, Turner & the Storm Cloud
edited with Richard Johns
published by Paul Holberton in 2019
A collection of new essays published by a range of artists, academics and curators. This beautifully illustrated book was published to support the major exhibition at York Art Gallery

Effie Gray
published by Duckworth in 2010
(originally as The Model Wife)

A full-scale biography of the young Scotswoman who married John Ruskin in 1848. After the breakdown and annulment of that marriage, she then became the wife of the Pre-Raphaelite painter, John Everett Millais. Drawing on previously unseen family letters and diaries, this study explores the roles of women in the Victorian art world, and their hopes for travel, education and social mobility.

 Pre-Raphaelite Art in the Victoria & Albert Museum
published by V&A Publishing 2008

An introduction to the rich collections of drawings, paintings, embroideries and stained glass, made by Pre-Raphaelite artists, and now held at the V&A Museum

This book brings together works by Rossetti, William Morris, John Everett Millais and Edward Burne-Jones, including musical instruments, painted cabinets, tapestries and jewellery. It reveals the importance of the decorative arts in the creation of the Pre-Raphaelite movement. Beautifully illustrated with many works that are rarely seen, because they are too fragile to be on permanent display.