Book review: A portrait of a man of great lusts and many contradictions

Adrian Frazier’s biography is overly earnest and not always well written but it’s a reservoir of information about the John Montague’s long and eventful life

John Montague: His mother returned from America but didn’t bring him to live with her. This rejection, we assume, shaped his attitudes to women, informing his infidelities and the misogyny visible in some of his writing.

• John Montague: A Poet's Life 
• Adrian Frazier 
• Lilliput Press, €24.95