The novel follows the fictional Nell Golightly as she encounters the eccentric poet Rupert Brooke in Grantchester, Cambridgeshire.

Other notable elements of the novel include the vivid descriptions of the life in Grantchester and the borrowing of themes from Brooke's poetry such as beekeeping.

But during this period following 1909, his personal life was very chaotic due to sexual confusion and several unsuccessful relationships with both men and women.

Brooke died in 1915, however, his poems were lauded by the British public, most notably Winston Churchill, and brought him to posthumous fame.

Though she is interested in writing biography, she finds that novels are an easier genre to express her understanding of the historical individual.

And writing a novel allows you to be more playful—and perhaps more honest about the fact this is your version of events.Dawson's initial inspiration came from a visit to The Orchard, an inn in Grantchester where she encountered a photograph of maids who had been there while Brooke was in residence there from 1909 to 1914.

The Orchard became the primary setting of The Great Lover and the maids inspired the creation of the character Nell Golightly.

Nell responds, including a narrative of the time spent by Brooke at The Orchard in Grantchester from 1909 until his retreat in Tahiti in 1914, which becomes the rest of the novel.

Because she is the oldest child and her mother is long dead, Nell Golightly decides finds a job as a maid at The Orchard, a boarding house and tea room outside of Cambridge which caters to the students at the University there.

They develop a friendship in which both Nell and Brooke hold secret admiration and love for the other, but are unable to express it because of social conventions.

Because he cannot convince Nell or any of several other women to succumb to his wooing, he loses it in a homosexual encounter with a boyhood friend, Denham Russell-Smith.

Brooke does not marry Noel, but rather spends a brief period in Munich where he tries to become intimate with a Belgian girl in order to lose his heterosexual virginity.

[9] However, despite his beauty and charm, the internal conflict in Brooke can be hard to sympathise with, Vanessa Curtis calling him "difficult for the reader to like" because he is "fey, brash, insecure and fickle".

[9] One reviewer noted that Nell's voice in the novel is not altogether convincing, saying "the levels of diction and spelling here seem rather high to be coming up from the kitchen".

[9] The centrality of Nell in the novel was inspired by a postcard that Dawson bought which showed the maids from The Orchard during Brooke's stay.

[7] Dawson includes excerpts and quotes from Brooke's letters within her fictional passages, integrating both elements to create a complete narrative.

[13] However, in interpreting Edwardian language, Dawson misuses the term "pump ship" according to Frances Spalding in The Independent.

[12] Joanna Briscoe also noted that the novel had a wonderful "sense of time and place" because it treats many elements unique to the period in the Britain very well, including Fabianism and class politics.

[8] The Great Lover also maintains a very vivid imagery and sensory elements related to The Orchard; as Vanessa Curtis of The Scotsman says, "the fragrance of honey, apples and flowers suffuse the novel".

Brooke's unconventional actions are common throughout the novel, the most prominent being nude bathing and odd remarks and humour.

Lorna Bradbury of The Daily Telegraph called the novel "a psychologically convincing picture of a man who, even in his many flirtatious moments, is teetering on the edge, and a brilliant account of the poet’s nervous breakdown.

"[12] Similarly, Joanna Briscoe of The Guardian said, "by the final quarter, Dawson knows what she is doing with a tricky subject, and the novel comes into its own with explosive force.

For Mallon, the novel does not treat Brooke during his most interesting part of his life: during the first World War, when he becomes a public figure.