Vita Sackville-West

Love Letters: Vita and Virginia delves into the passionate and intellectually stimulating exchange between two of the twentieth century's most prominent female writers, Vita Sackville-West and Virginia Woolf. This collection of letters and diary entries captures the evolution of their relationship, from the initial sparks of attraction to a deep, enduring friendship and literary partnership. At once radical, relatable, and...

How very odd it must be to be a dog... Over the years, Vita Sackville-West had many dogs, including Cocker Spaniel Pippin (famously the mother of Virginia Woolf's Spaniel, Pinka), Alsatian Rollo, whose photograph hangs in Sissinghurst Castle, and elkhound Canute, who used to hop on the bus into town whenever he got bored. In Faces, Sackville-West traces the origins...

A brilliant double biography of two female saints: Teresa of Avila and Thérèse of Lisieux. The two saints whose lives Vita Sackville-West contrasts in this double biography were recorded by very different epithets: "the great" and "the little". Both women were Carmelites, both canonised, and both shared the same name. But whilst Teresa of Avila was aristocratic, intellectual, vigorous, and...

The captivating story of Joan of Arc is told by the great underrated writer Vita Sackville-West. The strange story of Joan of Arc, the obscure peasant girl who became the national saint of France, is retold in this celebrated, classic biography. Saint Joan of Arc lives for the reader on every page, as a shepherd girl in a remote part...

Two exquisite novellas which confirm Sackville-West's gift as a novelist. Seducers in Ecuador is the story of Arthur Lomax, every bit the English gentleman in his white ducks and solar topee, enjoying the pleasures of an Egyptian cruise. But with the addition of a pair of blue spectacles to the outfit, Lomax's entire world changes – to alarming, deadly effect....

Grand Canyon is a gripping, unflinching alternative history of the Second World War by the brilliant writer Vita Sackville-West. The Second World War has been won - by the Germans. Only America still stands, protected by a precarious promise of peace from the Reich. Lester and Helen, strangers staying at the Grand Canyon Hotel in Arizona, are united by their...

From 1946 to 1957, Vita Sackville-West, the poet and bestselling author of All Passion Spent and maker of Sissinghurst, wrote a weekly column in the Observer depicting her life at Sissinghurst. This work shows her to be one of the most visionary horticulturalists of the twentieth century. Edited by Sarah Raven, Vita Sackville-West's Sissinghurst draws on this extraordinary archive, revealing...

The fascinating story of an unconventional, bisexual, and powerfully loving relationship and a unique portrait of gender and feminism, with a new introduction from Juliet Nicolson. 'A brilliantly structured account of the dramas, infidelities and deep emotional attachments' - GUARDIAN 'An intimate and controversial account of his bisexual parents' open relationship' - NEW YORK TIMES 'One of the most absorbing...

All Passion Spent by Vita Sackville-West is a charming, extraordinary early 20th-century novel about family relationships and the unexpected freedoms of old age. Life begins at 88 for Lady Slane, a widow who escapes her overbearing family. When her husband, the great statesman Lord Slane, dies, everyone assumes his dutiful wife will slowly fade away, becoming the paying guest of...

Family History is the sequel to The Edwardians — a novel of high society in a changing world. Evelyn, aged thirty-nine, is an attractive widow living an irreproachable life. Then she meets Miles, fifteen years her junior, and falls passionately in love. But both lovers have strong personalities, and passion does not equal happiness. Evelyn, deeply jealous and conventional, is...