Vita Sackville-West was many things; a glamorous aristocrat; reckless romantic; devoted wife; mother of two talented sons; passionate paramour of Virginia Woolf; muse of Orlando, and a prolific, bestselling writer.
We’ve picked a few of our favourite books to help you choose which book to read next – or first.
'For a life of her own, he had substituted his life with its interests, or the lives of her children with their potentialities. He assumed that she might sink herself in either, if not both, with equal joy. It had never occurred to him that she might prefer simply to be herself.'
Irreverent, entertaining and insightful, this is a tale of the unexpected joys of growing older.
When the great statesman Lord Slane dies, everyone assumes his dutiful wife will slowly fade away, but Lady Slane surprises everyone by escaping to a rented house in Hampstead where she revels in her new freedom, revives youthful ambitions and gathers some very unsuitable companions.
Tender, poignant and beautifully written, All Passion Spent is Sackville-West at her finest.
Heritage
'I told her that love was passion and friendship - passion in the secret night, but comradeship in the open places under the sun, and that whereas passion was the drunkeness of love, friendship was its food and clear water and warmth...'
Ruth Pennistan is a farmer’s daughter, born and brought up in Kent. But her dark hair and eyes belie a forgotten ancestry – a Spanish gypsy grandmother and a passionate inheritance.
Malory, the rather straight-laced guest of the family, falls head over heels in love, even whilst Ruth becomes trapped against her will in a drama of love and tragedy with another man.
Full of feeling, glamour and excitement, this enthralling novel is not to be missed.
The Edwardians
'All love is a weakness, if it comes to that, in so far as it destroys some part of our independence.'
Sebastian is young, handsome and romantic, the heir to a vast and beautiful English country estate. He is a fixed feature in the eternal round of lavish parties, intrigues and traditions at the cold, decadent heart of Edwardian high society.
Everyone knows the role he must play, but Sebastian isn't sure he wants the part. Position, privilege and wealth are his, if he can resist the lure of a brave new world.
Both a portrait of fashionable society at the height of the era and an engaging, witty novel that reveals all that was glamorous about the period - and all that was to lead to its downfall.
Family History
'Give me a gentleman, give me a countryman, give me a working-man, give me an honest-to-god middle-class John Smith, but heaven save me from these pretentious humbugs who imagine themselves the aristocracy of the future.'
Evelyn, aged 39, is an attractive widow living an irreproachable life. Then she meets Miles, 15 years her junior, and falls passionately in love - but passion does not equal happiness...
Sackville-West casts her keen, satirical eye towards work, sex and society in the changing world of the early 1930s.
Fascinating, funny and far ahead of its time.
Pepita
'Come to me. Make yourself alive again. Vitality such as yours cannot perish.'
Vita Sackville-West was an extraordinary woman from a long line of extraordinary women – this book tells their stories.
Her grandmother Pepita, daughter of an old-clothes pedlar, made her fortune as a dancer and had a scandalous affair with an English diplomat. Their illegitimate daughter Victoria, Vita's mother, spent her childhood hidden in a convent but went on to be the glamorous mistress of Knole, one of the grandest old houses in England.
Vita brings her legendary wit, passion and eccentricity to this colourful family portrait.
