Vanessa and Her Sister - Softcover

Priya Parmar

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1408850214 ISBN 13: 9781408850213

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing, 2015

Synopsis

London, 1905. The city is alight with change and the stephen siblings are at the forefront. Vanessa, virginia, thoby and adrian are leaving behind their childhood home and taking a house in the leafy heart of avant-garde bloomsbury. There they bring together a glittering circle of brilliant, artistic friends who will come to be known as the legendary bloomsbury group. And at the centre of the charmed circle are the devoted, gifted sisters: vanessa, the painter and virginia, the writer. Each member of the group will go on to earn fame and success, but so far vanessa bell has never sold a painting. Virginia woolf's book review has just been turned down by the times. Lytton strachey has not published anything. E. M. Forster has finished his first novel but does not like the title. Leonard woolf is still a civil servant in ceylon and john maynard keynes is looking for a job. Together, this sparkling coterie of artists and intellectuals throw away convention and embrace the wild freedom of being young, single bohemians in london. But the landscape shifts when vanessa unexpectedly falls in love and her sister feels dangerously abandoned. Eerily possessive, charismatic, manipulative and brilliant, virginia has always lived in the shelter of vanessa's constant attention and encouragement. Without it, she careens toward self-destruction and madness. As tragedy and betrayal threaten to destroy the family, vanessa must choose whether to protect virginia's happiness or her own.

About this title

About the Author

Educated at Mount Holyoke College, the University of Edinburgh, and the University of Oxford, Priya Parmar is the author of one previous novel, Exit the Actress. She divides her time between Hawaii and London.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Virginia Woolf
Asheham House
Rodmell
Sussex

2 December 1912--Asheham

Dearest Nessa,

She arrived in an inauspicious brown crate. Your painting is smaller and rougher than I expected. Mrs. Virginia Woolf in a Deckchair--what a marvelously blunt title. Without it, I am not sure anyone would know it is me given the empty face but Leonard says he recognized the set of the shoulders right away.

Where shall I put your beautiful canvas? Leonard thinks the upstairs hallway. Would you choose when you come down next week? You know how I like it when you decide these things. You are still coming down?

There is an unrushed calm about your Mrs. Woolf. Is this how you see me now, dearest? The woman in the painting looks whole and serene and loved. Am I still loveable? Or have I undone that now?

No, Nessa, it must not be. What happened cannot break us. It is impossible. Someday you will love me and forgive me. Someday we will begin again.

Always your
Virginia

About this edition

• Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
• Publication date: 2015
• ISBN 10: 1408850214
• ISBN 13: 9781408850213
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 368