During the 12th century, a time when few women were permitted an education, young Heloise d'Argenteuil was renowned throughout Europe for her exceptional scholarship. The ward of an affluent uncle, Heloise became a student of Pierre Abelard, one of the period's greatest poets and philosophers. Their private tutoring sessions inevitably led to an all-consuming love affair that made the pair a legendary example of romantic devotion. James Burge draws on over one hundred of their letters to reconstruct the true story of their attachment, one that fed as much on the intimacy of the mind as it did on physical desire.