To be read: Vanessa and her Sister

   

    Out here in February (and just released in the US) is Vanessa and Her Sister by Priya Parmar, "a compelling and dazzling story of sisters and art, love and betrayal - of Vanessa Bell and Virginia Woolf".

    This is an epistolary novel of which Virginia Nicholson, Vanessa Bell's grand-daughter says, "An account of my grandmother's early life, told with faith, elegance and an almost uncanny insight into the subject. But this is also an absorbing work of fiction - and Priya Parmar has made Vanessa's story her own."

    The book begins in London in 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 sparkling coterie of artistic and intellectual friends who will come to be known as the legendary Bloomsbury Group. And at the centre of the charmed ring 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 has never sold a painting. Virginia'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 shimmering enclave 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."

Comments

[Danielle]

Ooooh, I just bought this myself! It looks very promising, don't you think? Happy New Year Karen! :)

[Cornflower]

It does look good, and what a super endorsement by Virginia Nicholson.
Happy New Year, Danielle!

[Claire]

Oh no, I'm such a Bloomsbury fan I'm going to be very wary of this. I will read your review and others before I give it a try. Hate the cover so not a good start!

[Cornflower]

I do like the cover of the Canadian edition - the middle one here: http://www.priyaparmar.com/international-editions/

[Claire]

Yes, that's a bit of an improvement but, for me, the face is still too modern and glamorous for Virginia or Vanessa. I'm going to take some persuading on this one Cornflower!

[Cornflower]

I suppose they are trying to attract the general readership, assuming the Bloomsbury fans will read it anyway. Let's hope what's inside the cover is suitably authentic!

[Claire]

We'll see...... I wonder if Bloomsbury fans are rather protective. I know after reading a bad review of Virginia in Manhattan by Maggie Gee I couldn't bring myself to read it. But perhaps it's just me. I suppose there's so much material that it's very tempting for authors to use it for a novel. And if it introduces Virginia, Vanessa, Forster etc. to a new audience that's great. I think perhaps I should put doubts to one side and order it from the library!

[Cornflower]

That's a good plan.
Here's what Ion Trewin, Man Booker literary director, had to say about it: "It is billed as fiction but [...] this brilliant epistolary novel reads as if this is a genuine and revelatory new take on Bloomsbury."

[Claire]

That's heartening - I'll order it from the library in February.

[Mrs. Pom]

Your post made me go right to Audible. com and download it. Spent a long commute to an assignment and back today listening to it. Just lovely! Thank you!

[Cornflower]

Great! Glad to hear that, Mrs. P.

[Jane Jazz]

How fascinating, to take a little dip into Bloomsbury lives (albeit fictional) just at the point where they are about to become the famous people we know and love!

[Phoebe]

Sad if these covers alienate the faithful and don't attract newcomers. In my opinion all the covers are weak but as we all know...don't judge a book by its cover! Cover designs are driven by marketing departments for good or nil.
Plus, Cornflower, I have comments about babka (cake) which you wrote about in a cakes and lit entry (pertaining to The Glass Room by Simon Mawer). Where should I write?

[Cornflower]

Yes, always interesting to see something of the earlier path to fame.

[Cornflower]

Wouldn't it be interesting to spend a day in the design department of a publisher's office and be party to the discussions which drive these decisions?
Here's The Glass Room Books & Cakes post, Phoebe: http://cornflower.typepad.com/domestic_arts_blog/2012/11/books-and-cakes-55.html

[Dorothy]

Just finished Vanessa and Her Sister and I loved it. The epistolary style gave us different points of view and left the reader to make up their own mind about their take on the situation. The author explained at the end that the majority of 'turning points' actually were documented as happening but the main significant one was conjured as fiction. (I'm trying not to give anything away here!) It has left me wanting to find out more about the Bloomsbury set in their individual capacities.

I will always remember it as my blizzard read!

[Cornflower]

Hope you're safe and warm, Dorothy, and very glad to hear you enjoyed the book so much!