Product details
Biographical note
Vita Sackville-West (1892-1962) was born 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. They had an unconventional marriage, and troughout her life Sackville-West had a number of other relationships with both men and women. She wrote novels, non-fiction, and poetry, including The Land (1926), which won the Hawthorden Prize.<i>All Passion Spent</i> tells the marvellously cheering story of how, in widowhood, a conventional woman is finally able to defy her family
Guardian
Sackville-West writes simply wonderfully and many passages make me laugh out loud
- Joanna Lumley,
Heartening
Observer
Inspiring... Old age can be celebrated, not feared
Sunday Telegraph
Every page of this novel is a pleasure to read
The Times
Behind its lyrical prose is the idea of how important it is to lay claim to your own space, however late in life
Spectator
Sackville-West's wickedly funny <i>All Passions Spent</i> is her best novel by a mile... Superb
WI Life
A moving portrait of an old age in which something of the potential self can be recovered… Superb.
- Jackie Wilkin, WI Life
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.
- Stephen Joyce, Nudge
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
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.