Description

By (author) Sackville-West, Vita; Introduction by Lumley, Joanna

Short /annotation:

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.

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

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

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

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Heartening

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Inspiring… Old age can be celebrated, not feared

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Every page of this novel is a pleasure to read

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.

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