A collage of images of Vita Sackville-West and Virginia Woolf with illustrations of love letters

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Features

Virginia Woolf’s (not so) secret lesbian relationship – in her own words

Lifestyle shot of Love Letters: Vita and Virginia, standing on a white marble base against a pale pink wall. A green fabric ribbon is draped across the front of the shot, and a mug and pink flowers stand to the left of the book.

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14 romantic quotes from the love letters of Virginia Woolf and Vita Sackville-West

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Reading lists

Where to start reading Vita Sackville-West

Grand Canyon

A gripping, unflinching alternative history of the Second World War by the brilliant writer Vita Sackville-West

A startling piece of speculative fiction… A curious read, written with the urgency and pain of wartime, and it fired me with a fresh interest in its author

Vita Sackville-West was born in 1892 at Knole in Kent, the only child of aristocratic parents. In 1913 she married diplomat Harold Nicolson, with whom she had two sons and travelled extensively before settling at Kent’s Sissinghurst Castle in 1930, where she devoted much of her time to creating its now world-famous garden. Throughout her life Sackville-West had a number of other relationships with both men and women, and her unconventional marriage would later become the subject of a biography written by her son Nigel Nicolson. Though she produced a substantial body of work, amongst which are writings on travel and gardening, Sackville-West is best known for her novels The Edwardians (1930) and All Passion Spent (1931), and for the pastoral poem The Land (1926), which was awarded the prestigious Hawthornden Prize. Sackville-West died on 2 June 1962 at her Sissinghurst home, aged seventy.

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 memories of a lost England. When the fragile peace shatters, only Lester and Helen can take charge and lead their fellow guests into an uncertain future.

Seducers in Ecuador & The Heir

Two exquisite novellas which confirm Sackville-West's gift as a novelist

My own favourite, the wry whimsical little Seducers in Ecuador

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. 
 
Peregrine Chase in The Heir is the manager of a Wolverhampton insurance company. But when he inherits a moated Tudor house called Blackboys his resistance to change dissolves in the face of its beauty. Under the spell of house and garden, Peregrine's life - and heart - are transformed.

Saint Joan of Arc

The captivating story of Joan of Arc told by the great underrated writer Vita Sackville-West

Glamorous aristocrat, complete with ancient name, Spanish Gypsy blood, lost inheritance and family scandals; reckless, romantic lesbian and cross-dresser; devoted wife to a noted diplomat and diarist; mother of two talented sons; bestselling writer, gardener of genius - what could be more enthralling?

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 lives for the reader on every page, as a shepherd girl in a remote part of fifteenth-century rural France, visited by visions of saints and angels; as the avenging virgin who regenerated the soul of a torn and wretched France and led her troops to victory; and as a condemned heretic and witch, burned at the stake and, five hundred years later, canonised as a saint.

The Eagle and the Dove

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 humorous, a Spanish woman of the sixteenth century, Thérèse of Lisieux was a guileless and sentimental figure of the French bourgeoisie. Teresa, the great mystic, is the patron saint of Spain; Thérèse, the humble nun, is probably the most beloved saint in the entire Calendar. The extraordinary rise of the cult of both women is scrutinised.

Family History

The sequel to The Edwardians - a novel of high society in a changing world.

I guarantee that like Harold Nicolson, who was reading Family History on the train between Staplehurst and Charing Cross, most readers will “weep copiously”

Tears, tantrum, age gap… utterly addictive. Tissues ahoy.

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 shocked at her lover's casual ways and his insistence on working all day. Miles’s love for Evelyn is real but he cannot devote himself wholly to her whims. Vita Sackville-West collides attitudes to work, sex and society in the changing world of the early 1930s.

Heritage

The first novel written by the brilliant and underrated novelist Vita Sackville-West.

Alive with smouldering passion and passages of real beauty… Unquestionably a novel of unusual power

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 strait-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. Vita Sackville-West’s first heroine echoes the passions and contradictions of the author's own life.

Pepita

A colourful family history – scandal, perjury, forgery, passionate love affairs and class conflict – and a revealing self-portrait of the author herself, the extraordinary Vita Sackville-West

The exciting story of [Vita's] Spanish grandmother

What appears to be a straightforward joint biography of her grandmother and mother becomes the means whereby Vita explores and makes sense for herself of those warring elements in her own past and temperament

Victoria Mary Sackville-West, known as Vita, was born in 1892 at Knole in Kent, the only child of aristocratic parents. In 1913 she married diplomat Harold Nicolson, with whom she had two sons and travelled extensively before settling at Kent’s Sissinghurst Castle in 1930, where she devoted much of her time to creating its now world-famous garden. Throughout her life Sackville-West had a number of other relationships with both men and women, and her unconventional marriage would later become the subject of a biography written by her son Nigel Nicolson. Though she produced a substantial body of work, amongst which are writings on travel and gardening, Sackville-West is best known for her novels The Edwardians (1930) and All Passion Spent (1931), and for the pastoral poem The Land (1926), which was awarded the prestigious Hawthornden Prize. Sackville-West died on 2 June 1962 at her Sissinghurst home, aged seventy.

WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY JULIET NICOLSON 
 
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.

The Edwardians

A glittering portrait of fashionable Edwardian high society, seen through the lives of a brother and sister torn between their ties to the past and the lure of the modern era

As opulent and ambiguous as the author herself

Sackville-West wrote without fuss or anxiety. Her fluency could be relied on to provide imaginative security, and she wanted readers - of The Edwardians, Family History, All Passion Spent - to feel that too

A close-up portrait of the excessive lifestyle of the aristocracy in a country estate... living out the tension between playing your given part in society — staying true to the rules and culture you were born into — and becoming an independent person, a tension that also defines "Downton Abbey," both upstairs and down.

Exposes the shallowness of the elite in society at the beginning of the twentieth century… I found this novel a real pleasure to read… Sackville-West describes some of the monstrous characters with great humour… The tone is witty and perceptive and it is obvious she has a deep insider knowledge of the life she is criticizing… The Edwardians was apparently an instant success on publication and I think today it would certainly appeal to fans of Downton Abbey or books like The Forsyte Saga. Book groups would find plenty to discuss about both the social history and the outrageous characters in the novel.

Victoria Mary Sackville-West, known as Vita, was born in 1892 at Knole in Kent, the only child of aristocratic parents. In 1913 she married diplomat Harold Nicolson, with whom she had two sons and travelled extensively before settling at Kent’s Sissinghurst Castle in 1930, where she devoted much of her time to creating its now world famous garden. Throughout her life Sackville-West had a number of other relationships with both men and women, and her unconventional marriage would later become the subject of a biography written by her son Nigel Nicolson. Though she produced a substantial body of work, amongst which are writings on travel and gardening, Sackville-West is best known for her novels The Edwardians (1930) and All Passion Spent (1931), and for the pastoral poem The Land (1926), which was awarded the prestigious Hawthornden Prize. Sackville-West died on 2 June 1962 at her Sissinghurst home, aged 70.

Edwardian era love, society and politics explored in this perfect read for Downton Abbey fans. 
 
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. 
 
WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY KATE WILLIAMS

All Passion Spent

Life begins at 88: a widow escapes her overbearing family and discovers the unexpected freedoms of old age

All Passion Spent tells the marvellously cheering story of how, in widowhood, a conventional woman is finally able to defy her family

Sackville-West writes simply wonderfully and many passages make me laugh out loud

Inspiring... Old age can be celebrated, not feared

Every page of this novel is a pleasure to read

Behind its lyrical prose is the idea of how important it is to lay claim to your own space, however late in life

Sackville-West's wickedly funny All Passions Spent is her best novel by a mile... Superb

A moving portrait of an old age in which something of the potential self can be recovered… Superb.

It’s the ideal moment for those not acquainted with her work to read this engaging, memorable novel… Written in engaging prose that is crisp and witty and hums with vitality… it tells us the important truth that life can begin again at eighty-eight.

A charming extraordinary early 20th century novel about family relationships. 
 
When the great statesman Lord Slane dies, everyone assumes his dutiful wife will slowly fade away, the paying guest of each of her six children. 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. Irreverent, entertaining and insightful, this is a tale of the unexpected joys of growing older. 
 
WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY JOANNA LUMLEY

Vita Sackville-West

Virginia Woolf

Alison Bechdel

"A deliciously tactile volume of love letters; I've been carrying them around the house, dipping in and out, and finding new things each time. As Vita said of Mrs Dalloway, they bewilder, illuminate and reveal" - Nino Strachey, author of Rooms of Their Own

Nino Strachey, author of Rooms of Their Own

'I am reduced to a thing that wants Virginia. I composed a beautiful letter to you in the sleepless nightmare hours of the night, and it has all gone. I just miss you...' 
 
At a dinner party in 1922, Virginia Woolf met the renowned author, aristocrat, and sapphist Vita Sackville-West. Virginia wrote in her diary that she didn't think much of Vita's conversation, but she did think very highly of her legs... It was to be the start of almost twenty years of flirtation, friendship, and literary collaboration. Their correspondence ended only with Virginia's suicide in 1941. 
 
Intimate and playful, these selected letters and diary entries allow us to hear the women's constantly changing feelings for each other in their own words. Eavesdrop on the affair that inspired Virginia to write Orlando, and discover an extraordinary relationship which - even a hundred years later - feels radical and relatable. 
 
WITH A NEW INTRODUCTION FROM ALISON BECHDEL, AUTHOR OF FUN HOME AND CREATOR OF THE BECHDEL TEST.

Vita Sackville-West

Books by Vita Sackville-West

Articles featuring Vita Sackville-West

Virginia Woolf’s (not so) secret lesbian relationship – in her own words

14 romantic quotes from the love letters of Virginia Woolf and Vita Sackville-West

Where to start reading Vita Sackville-West

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