The book begins in 1859, when Ruskin is tutoring Rose La Touche, a girlof ten, with whom he slowly falls in love. Hilton recounts how thisrelationship developed into one of the saddest love affairs of literaryhistory, ending in tragedy in 1875. Thereafter, says Hilton, Ruskin' s lifewas punctuated by bouts of insanity and despair.