The Edwardians: Vita Sackville-West

Product Description

A glittering portrait of fashionable Edwardian English high society seen through the lives of a brother and sister torn by ties to the past and the lure of the modern era.
Sebastian is the heir of Chevron, a vast and beautiful English country estate. As such he is a fixed part of an eternal round of lavish parties, intrigues, traditions and fashions at the cold, decadent heart of Edwardian high society. Everyone knows the role Sebastian must play, but Sebastian isn't sure he wants the part. His sister Viola, meanwhile, scorns every part of her inheritance and is searching for a way out. The brave new world of the twentieth--century offers both escape and destruction.

About the Author

VICTORIA 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.