{"title":"Literary Figures","description":null,"products":[{"product_id":"selected-letters-of-edith-sitwell","title":"Selected Letters Of Edith Sitwell","description":"Edith Sitwell (1887-1964) was, through four decades, the most prominent and celebrated woman poet in Britain.  Among the notable admirers of her work were Siegfried Sassoon, WB Yeats and Gertrude Stein, Stephen Spender and Marianne Moore.  Just after her death, Allen Tate described her in The New York Times as 'one of the great poets of the twentieth century'.  Even as one allows for the ebb and flow of literary reputations, Edith Sitwell will have permanent claim on the attention of readers and literary scholars.  She and her two brothers, Osbert and Sacheverell, were the focus of a movement in English Literature described as an 'alternative Bloomsbury'.  This volume includes unpublished letters to many significant figures, including WB Yeats, Bertrand Russell and Benjamin Britten.  It also contains letters that illuminate Sitwell's relations with other women writers, among them, Gertrude Stein and Rosamond Lehmann.\u003cbr\u003e'I am besotted with this dotty old bat. Britain's most celebrated and eccentric female poet, she dashed off reams of witty, newsy, mischievous letters in exquisitely beautiful prose. Every letter is a gem' - Val Hennessy (one of her top ten books for 1997), Daily Mail","brand":"Virago","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":37542496764083,"sku":"9781844085088","price":24.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0511\/3364\/4979\/products\/9781844085088-original.jpg?v=1771411360"},{"product_id":"84-charing-cross-road","title":"84 Charing Cross Road","description":"\u003cb\u003eA TRUE STORY THAT HAS TOUCHED THE HEARTS OF THOUSANDS\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cb\u003e'Unmitigated delight from cover to cover' \u003ci\u003eDAILY TELEGRAPH \u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cb\u003e'A real-life love story . . . A timeless period piece. Do read it' \u003ci\u003eWALL STREET JOURNAL \u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cb\u003e'Beguile an hour of your time and put you in tune with mankind' \u003ci\u003eNEW YORK TIMES \u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/b\u003eThis charming classic, first published in 1970, brings together twenty years of correspondence between Helene Hanff, a freelance writer living in New York City, and a used-book dealer in London. Through the years, though never meeting and separated both geographically and culturally, they share a winsome, sentimental friendship based on their common love for books. Their relationship, captured so acutely in these letters, is one that will grab your heart and not let go.","brand":"Virago","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":37542500434099,"sku":"9781860498503","price":10.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0511\/3364\/4979\/products\/9781860498503-original.jpg?v=1771467682"},{"product_id":"a-song-flung-up-to-heaven","title":"A Song Flung Up to Heaven","description":"\u003cb\u003eA memoir of politics and activism, from the bestselling and beloved author of \u003ci\u003eI KNOW WHY THE CAGED BIRD SINGS\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cb\u003e'A brilliant writer, a fierce friend and a truly phenomenal woman' BARACK OBAMA\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIt is 1964 and Maya Angelou is on her way back home, leaving behind her beloved - and now seriously teenage son Guy, to finish university in Ghana. America is pulsing with the challenge of change, the civil rights movement is in full swing and that's where Maya Angelou wants to be, working alongside her friends Malcolm X and Martin Luther King.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIn this marvellous account, Maya Angelou provides, with her customary wisdom, compassion and wit, a first-hand record of an extraordinarily exciting and tragic political period. She writes of Jimmy Baldwin, Eldridge Cleaver, and of friends and family, and finishes with the beginnings of her career as one of America's most impressive memoir writers.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e'She moved through the world with unshakeable calm, confidence and a fierce grace . . . She will always be the rainbow in my clouds' OPRAH WINFREY\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e \u003cb\u003e'She was important in so many ways. She launched African American women writing in the United States. She was generous to a fault. She had nineteen talents - used ten. And was a real original. There is no duplicate' TONI MORRISON\u003c\/b\u003e","brand":"Virago","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":42704402841779,"sku":"9780349017099","price":10.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0511\/3364\/4979\/products\/9780349017099-original.jpg?v=1771411682"},{"product_id":"all-of-us-there","title":"All Of Us There","description":"\u003cb\u003e'Touching and nostalgic' \u003ci\u003eGUARDIAN\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cb\u003e'She conjures places as vividly as feelings, and feelings as exactly as her surroundings'\u003ci\u003e VOGUE \u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cb\u003e'It is the only intimate and un-angry expression of the feelings of a colonised people that I have ever read' DAVID THOMSON \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/b\u003ePolly Devlin grew up in County Tyrone, on the shores of Lough Neagh in the fifties, but it might as well have been another time and place altogether.  In this memoir, she describes in witty, spontaneous and idiosyncratic prose her life as one of seven siblings in a Catholic family in Northern Ireland.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e'A brooding, evocative study of Irish childhood, of the strong bonds of love and jealousy that sisters especially feel, the guilt-ridden pressures of religion, the magical countryside, the eccentric villagers.  A hauntingly lovely work . . . beautifully written with poetic intensity which seems to encapsulate the Irish character with all its wit and bitterness and gift for words'  \u003ci\u003eHOMES AND GARDENS\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e","brand":"Virago","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":37542513770675,"sku":"9781844080441","price":8.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0511\/3364\/4979\/products\/9781844080441-original.jpg?v=1755311393"},{"product_id":"testament-of-youth","title":"Testament of Youth","description":"\u003cb\u003e'Remains one of the most powerful and widely read war memoirs of all time' \u003c\/b\u003e\u003ci\u003eGUARDIAN \u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e'Vera Brittain's heart-rending account of the way her generation's lives changed is still as shocking and moving as ever'  \u003c\/b\u003e\u003ci\u003eSUNDAY TELEGRAPH \u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e'A heartbreaking account of the impact of the First World War on a stout-hearted, high-minded young woman'\u003c\/b\u003e\u003ci\u003e SUNDAY TIMES\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e'Should be compulsive reading' \u003c\/b\u003e\u003ci\u003eDAILY MAIL\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eWhat you have striven for will not end in nothing, all that you have done and been will not be wasted, for it will be a part of me as long as I live, and I shall remember, always.\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003eIn 1914 Vera Brittain was twenty, and as war was declared she was preparing to study at Oxford. Four years later her life - and the lives of a whole generation - had been unimaginably changed. \u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cbr\u003eO\u003c\/i\u003ene of the most famous autobiographies of the First World War, this is her account of how she survived the period; how she lost the man she loved; how she nursed the wounded; and how she emerged into an altered world to become one of the best-loved writers of her time.","brand":"Virago","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":55212798837112,"sku":"9780349020891","price":14.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0511\/3364\/4979\/products\/9780349010274-original.jpg?v=1771467833"},{"product_id":"the-du-mauriers","title":"The Du Mauriers","description":"\u003cb\u003eFROM THE BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF \u003ci\u003eREBECCA. \u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e'Miss du Maurier creates on the grand scale . . . observation, sympathy, courage, a sense of the romantic, are here' \u003ci\u003eOBSERVER \u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cb\u003e'It is my pick of the Spring biographical material for sheer entertainment value . . . a gifted story teller' \u003ci\u003eKIRKUS REVIEWS\u003c\/i\u003e\u003ci\u003e \u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cb\u003e'Daphne du Maurier has no equal' \u003ci\u003eSUNDAY TELEGRAPH \u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003eWhen Daphne du Maurier wrote this book she was only thirty years old and had already established herself both as a biographer with the acclaimed \u003ci\u003eGerald: A Portrait\u003c\/i\u003e and as a novelist. Here, she further explores her fascinating family history.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe Du Mauriers\u003c\/i\u003e was written during a vintage period of her career, between two of her best-loved novels: \u003ci\u003eJamaica Inn \u003c\/i\u003eand\u003ci\u003e Rebecca\u003c\/i\u003e.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eHer aim was to write her family biography 'so that it reads like a novel' and it was due to du Maurier's remarkable imaginative gifts that she was able to breathe life into the characters and depict with affection and wit the relatives she never knew, including her grandfather, the famous Victorian artist and \u003ci\u003ePunch\u003c\/i\u003e cartoonist - and creator of \u003ci\u003eTrilby\u003c\/i\u003e.","brand":"Virago","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":37542546866355,"sku":"9781844080649","price":12.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0511\/3364\/4979\/products\/9781844080649-original.jpg?v=1771413043"},{"product_id":"uncommon-arrangements","title":"Uncommon Arrangements","description":"Drawing on the memoirs, letters and diaries of a group of British intellectuals writing between 1910 and the Second World War, UNCOMMON ARRANGEMENTS paints a witty and insightful portrait of seven 'marriages a la mode', each triumphantly casting off Victorian inhibitions and pursuing bohemian ideals of freedom and equality.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBut as well as love and passion, there were tolerance, denial, anger, jealousy and drama. The Bloomsbury group's Clive and Vanessa Bell opened up their marriage to accommodate Vanessa's live-in lovers, and Clive's obsession with his sister-in-law, Virginia Woolf. H.G. Well's steadfast wife sent her love to his mistress Rebecca West when their son was born. And Vera Brittain and Katherine Mansfield, more devoted to their work than to their husbands, wrestled with unfulfilled desires.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThis is both a fascinating exploration of love, affection and friendship in marriage, and a brilliantly entertaining account of a dazzling era of high-society high living.","brand":"Virago","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":37542550077619,"sku":"9781844082711","price":18.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0511\/3364\/4979\/products\/9781844082711-original.jpg?v=1771413065"},{"product_id":"i-know-why-the-caged-bird-sings","title":"I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings","description":"\u003cb\u003eA beautiful new edition of  I KNOW WHY THE CAGED BIRD SINGS, the iconic, beloved and deeply moving first volume of Maya Angelou's autobiography. \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e***\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e'The international classic and bestseller, Maya Angelou's memoir paints a portrait of 'a brilliant writer, a fierce friend and a truly phenomenal woman'\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cb\u003eBARACK OBAMA\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e'One of my favourites' TINA KNOWLES\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e'I write about being a Black American woman, however, I am always talking about what it's like to be a human being. This is how we are, what makes us laugh, and this is how we fall and how we somehow, amazingly, stand up again' Maya Angelou\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIn this first volume of her seven books of autobiography, Maya Angelou beautifully evokes her childhood with her grandmother in the American south of the 1930s. Loving the world, she also knows its cruelty. As a Black woman she has known discrimination, violence and extreme poverty, but also hope, joy, achievement and celebration. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e'\u003ci\u003eI Know Why the Caged Bird Sings\u003c\/i\u003e liberates the reader into life simply because Maya Angelou confronts her own life with such a moving wonder, such a luminous dignity' \u003c\/b\u003eJAMES BALDWIN\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e'She moved through the world with unshakeable calm, confidence and a fierce grace . . . She will always be the rainbow in my clouds'\u003c\/b\u003e OPRAH WINFREY\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e'She was important in so many ways. She launched African American women writing in the United States. She was a real original. There is no duplicate' \u003c\/b\u003eTONI MORRISON\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e'H\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cb\u003eeartbreaking, beautiful and inspiring in equal measure . . . a  landmark work of literature' \u003c\/b\u003e\u003ci\u003eTELEGRAPH\u003c\/i\u003e","brand":"Virago","offers":[{"title":"Paperback ( Published 2024-04-04 )","offer_id":42704403136691,"sku":"9780349017068","price":10.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"Paperback ( Published 1998-04-21 )","offer_id":54846185832824,"sku":"9780860685111","price":9.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"Hardback","offer_id":37542561284275,"sku":"9780349005997","price":14.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0511\/3364\/4979\/products\/9780349017068-original.jpg?v=1771467986"},{"product_id":"the-heart-of-a-woman","title":"The Heart Of A Woman","description":"\u003cb\u003eFrom the beloved and bestselling author of \u003ci\u003eI KNOW WHY THE CAGED BIRD SINGS\u003c\/i\u003e, this memoir chronicles Maya Angelou's involvement with the civil rights movement.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003cb\u003e'A brilliant writer, a fierce friend and a truly phenomenal woman' BARACK OBAMA\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMaya Angelou's seven volumes of autobiography are a testament to the talents and resilience of this extraordinary writer. Loving the world, she also knows its cruelty. As a black woman she has known discrimination and extreme poverty, but also hope, joy, achievement and celebration. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe fourth volume of her enthralling autobiography finds Maya Angelou immersed in the world of black writers and artists in Harlem, working in the civil rights movement with Martin Luther King Jr.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e'She moved through the world with unshakeable calm, confidence and a fierce grace . . . She will always be the rainbow in my clouds' OPRAH WINFREY\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e \u003cb\u003e'She was important in so many ways. She launched African American women writing in the United States. She was generous to a fault. She had nineteen talents - used ten. And was a real original. There is no duplicate' TONI MORRISON\u003c\/b\u003e","brand":"Virago","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":42704403169459,"sku":"9780349017082","price":10.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0511\/3364\/4979\/products\/9780349017082-original.jpg?v=1771413291"},{"product_id":"gather-together-in-my-name","title":"Gather Together In My Name","description":"\u003cb\u003eThe sequel to \u003ci\u003eI KNOW WHY THE CAGED BIRD SINGS\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cb\u003e'A brilliant writer, a fierce friend and a truly phenomenal woman' BARACK OBAMA \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMaya Angelou's seven volumes of autobiography are a testament to the talents and resilience of this extraordinary writer. Though fiercely loving the world, as a black woman, she also knows its cruelty. Angelou has known discrimination and extreme poverty, but also hope, joy, achievement and celebration. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIn the sequel to her bestselling \u003ci\u003eI Know Why The Caged Bird Sings\u003c\/i\u003e, Maya Angelou is a young mother in California, unemployed, embarking on brief affairs and transient jobs in shops and nightclubs, turning to prostitution and the world of narcotics. Maya Angelou powerfully captures the struggles and triumphs of her passionate life with dignity, wisdom, humour and humanity.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e'She moved through the world with unshakeable calm, confidence and a fierce grace . . . She will always be the rainbow in my clouds' OPRAH WINFREY\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e \u003cb\u003e'She was important in so many ways. She launched African American women writing in the United States. She was generous to a fault. She had nineteen talents - used ten. And was a real original. There is no duplicate' TONI MORRISON\u003c\/b\u003e","brand":"Virago","offers":[{"title":"Paperback ( Published 2024-04-04, Edition 886508.0 )","offer_id":42704403267763,"sku":"9780349017105","price":10.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"Paperback ( Published 2010-09-02 )","offer_id":37542566494387,"sku":"9781844085026","price":9.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0511\/3364\/4979\/products\/9780349017105-original.jpg?v=1771413319"},{"product_id":"singin-swingin-and-gettin-merry-like-christmas","title":"Singin' \u0026 Swingin' and Gettin' Merry Like Christmas","description":"\u003cb\u003eA memoir about motherhood and music from the bestselling author of \u003ci\u003eI KNOW WHY THE CAGED BIRD SINGS\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003cbr\u003e'A brilliant writer, a fierce friend and a truly phenomenal woman' BARACK OBAMA\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMaya Angelou's seven volumes of autobiography are a testament to the talents and resilience of this extraordinary writer. Loving the world, she also knows its cruelty. As a black woman she has known discrimination and extreme poverty, but also hope, joy, achievement and celebration. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIn her third marvellous volume, music and her son are the focus of Maya Angelou's life. She is on the edge of a new world: marriage, show business and a triumphant tour of \u003ci\u003ePorgy and Bess\u003c\/i\u003e.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e'She moved through the world with unshakeable calm, confidence and a fierce grace . . . She will always be the rainbow in my clouds' OPRAH WINFREY\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e'She was important in so many ways. She launched African American women writing in the United States. She was generous to a fault. She had nineteen talents - used ten. And was a real original. There is no duplicate' TONI MORRISON\u003c\/b\u003e","brand":"Virago","offers":[{"title":"Paperback ( Published 2024-04-04, Edition 886501.0 )","offer_id":42704403300531,"sku":"9780349017075","price":10.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"Paperback ( Published 2008-05-01 )","offer_id":55238868664696,"sku":"9781844085033","price":9.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0511\/3364\/4979\/files\/9781844085033-original.jpg?v=1771468007"},{"product_id":"the-hound-and-the-falcon","title":"The Hound And The Falcon","description":"Contains the letters between Antonia White - a lapsed Catholic - and a former Jesuit novice. Although Antonia White returned to Church, these letters record the conflicts which preceded and followed this reconversion. They also chart the unfolding of an intimate relationship between them.","brand":"Virago","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":37542581043379,"sku":"9781844084197","price":13.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0511\/3364\/4979\/products\/9781844084197-original.jpg?v=1755312513"},{"product_id":"mozambique-mysteries","title":"Mozambique Mysteries","description":"MOZAMBIQUE MYSTERIES is about turning fifty and finding a new direction. Lisa St Aubin de Terán travelled to Mozambique and, for the first time in her much-travelled life, felt at home - in a place 'so remote that few have visited it since the time of Vasco da Gama'.  After three marriages and various affairs, she also fell in love.  She set up a school and, together with her niece, the Terán Foundation. From the acclaimed author of THE HACIENDA, Mozambique Mysteries is a story of new beginnings in a country of contrasts and challenges - her most inspiring story yet.","brand":"Virago","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":37542581960883,"sku":"9781844082995","price":18.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0511\/3364\/4979\/products\/9781844082995-original.jpg?v=1755312540"},{"product_id":"the-swan-in-the-evening","title":"The Swan In The Evening","description":"","brand":"Virago","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":37542635110579,"sku":"9780860682998","price":8.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0511\/3364\/4979\/products\/9780860682998-original.jpg?v=1771424124"},{"product_id":"as-once-in-may","title":"As Once In May","description":"Throughout her life, Antonia White struggled with a formidable writer's block: the FROST IN MAY quartet was thought to be her final achievement. Yet on her death, this extraordinary work - her autobiography up to the age of six - was discovered among her papers.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe freshness and vitality with which Antonia White recorded her much younger self is breathtaking. A writer with the phenomenal power of almost total recall, she recreates her capricious and extravagant mother and the indomitable father she both feared and adored, who taught Antonia the first line of the Iliad when she was three. Here, too, are perfect vignettes: the glorious bridesmaid's hat which her mother later appropriated; love at first sight in Kensington Gardens and games of Mr and Mrs John Barker in the nursery. Much more than an evocation of childhood, AS ONCE IN MAY illuminates the woman and writer Antonia White was to become. It is an essential and enthralling companion to her fiction.","brand":"Virago","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":37542640484531,"sku":"9781844084180","price":12.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0511\/3364\/4979\/products\/9781844084180-original.jpg?v=1755313203"},{"product_id":"up-the-country","title":"Up The Country","description":"Emily Eden  was born in 1797 into the charmed inner circle of the English upper class who conducted the country's political life. In 1836 this prominent member of Whig society joined her brother George in India where he was Governor-General. She stayed there for six years, during which time she embarked on a two-year-long tour of the country. With an unfailing eye for the eccentric and picturesque, Emily Eden describes in her delightful letters the extraordinary experiences encountered in life on the road in early eighteenth-century India.","brand":"Virago","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":37542644252851,"sku":"9780860684404","price":12.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0511\/3364\/4979\/products\/9780860684404-original.jpg?v=1755313295"},{"product_id":"letters-from-egypt","title":"Letters From Egypt","description":"\u003cb\u003e'The fearless nineteenth century English Lady who lived on top of an Egyptian temple' TOBY WILKINSON, \u003ci\u003eTELEGRAPH \u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cb\u003e'A lyrical, sharply observed, often humorous' KATHERINE FRANK \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIn 1862, Lucie Duff Gordon, cousin of Harriet Martineau and friend of Caroline Norton, Meredith and Thackeray, embarked on a solo trip to Egypt in an effort to rid herself of consumption.  The next seven years were spent in a ruined house above a temple in Luxor on the Nile.  Feeling at home in this most foreign of lands, Lucie Duff Gordon integrated herself quickly in the locale, setting up a hospital from her home and welcoming the people of Luxor, be they officials or slaves into her house. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe absorbing story told through her letters offers a wonderfully penetrating and sympathetic view of mid-nineteenth century Egypt as well as the personal story of this brave and generous woman.","brand":"Virago","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":37542644646067,"sku":"9780860684558","price":12.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0511\/3364\/4979\/products\/9780860684558-original.jpg?v=1755313303"},{"product_id":"dust-tracks-on-a-road","title":"Dust Tracks On A Road","description":"\u003cb\u003eWith a new introduction by JESMYN WARD\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cb\u003e'Warm, witty, imaginative . . . A rich and winning book' \u003ci\u003eNEW YORKER \u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003cb\u003e'Devilishly funny and academically solid: delicious mixture' MAYA ANGELOU\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cb\u003e'One of the greatest writers of our time' TONI MORRISON\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eFirst published in 1942 at the height of her popularity, \u003ci\u003eDust Tracks on a Road\u003c\/i\u003e is Zora Neale Hurston's candid, exuberant account of her rise from childhood poverty in the rural South to a prominent place among the leading artists and intellectuals of the Harlem Renaissance. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAs compelling as her acclaimed fiction, Hurston's literary self-portrait offers a revealing, often audacious glimpse into the life - public and private - of an extraordinary artist, anthropologist, chronicler and champion of the black experience in America. Full of the wit and wisdom of a proud, spirited woman who started off low and climbed high:\u003ci\u003e 'I have been in Sorrow's kitchen and licked out all the pots. Then I have stood on the peaky mountain wrapped in rainbows with a harp and a sword in my hands'.\u003c\/i\u003e","brand":"Virago","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":37542656082099,"sku":"9780349012216","price":12.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0511\/3364\/4979\/products\/9780349012216-original.jpg?v=1771424364"},{"product_id":"farewell-spain","title":"Farewell Spain","description":"\u003cb\u003eAN AWARD-WINNING AND REMARKABLE IRISH NOVELIST\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e'A fuller appreciation of modern literature and a greater understanding of twentieth century Ireland'\u003ci\u003e IRISH TIMES\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003eThis distinctly personal elegy was written during the early days of the Spanish Civil War by a writer whose future was indelibly marked by a year of travelling in a unique and changing country. A series of reminiscences, impressions and vivid insights, Kate O'Brien's thoughtful journey offers something unique at every stage, and captures perfectly the spirit of a lost place and the experience of travel and memory.","brand":"Virago","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":37542657228979,"sku":"9781844084029","price":16.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0511\/3364\/4979\/products\/9781844084029-original.jpg?v=1771424386"},{"product_id":"all-gods-children-need-travelling-shoes","title":"All God's Children Need Travelling Shoes","description":"\u003cb\u003eA memoir about home and belonging, from the author of \u003ci\u003eI KNOW WHY THE CAGED BIRD SINGS\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cb\u003e'A brilliant writer, a fierce friend and a truly phenomenal woman' BARACK OBAMA\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMaya Angelou's seven volumes of autobiography, beginning with \u003ci\u003eI KNOW WHY THE CAGED BIRD SINGS\u003c\/i\u003e, are a testament to the talents and resilience of this extraordinary writer. Though she fiercely loves the world, as a black woman, she also knows its cruelty. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAngelou has known discrimination and extreme poverty, but also hope, joy, achievement and celebration. In the fifth volume, Maya Angelou emigrates to Ghana only to discover that 'you can't go home again', but she comes to a new awareness of love and friendship, civil rights and slavery - and the myth of mother Africa.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e'She moved through the world with unshakeable calm, confidence and a fierce grace . . . She will always be the rainbow in my clouds' OPRAH WINFREY\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e'She was important in so many ways. She launched African American women writing in the United States. She was generous to a fault. She had nineteen talents - used ten. And was a real original. There is no duplicate' TONI MORRISON\u003c\/b\u003e","brand":"Virago","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":42704403333299,"sku":"9780349017112","price":10.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0511\/3364\/4979\/products\/9780349017112-original.jpg?v=1771468207"},{"product_id":"the-infernal-world-of-branwell-bronte","title":"The Infernal World Of Branwell Bronte","description":"\u003cb\u003eFROM THE BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF \u003ci\u003eREBECCA\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cb\u003e'Daphne du Maurier has no equal' \u003ci\u003eDAILY TELEGRAPH\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cb\u003e'Miss du Maurier has brought to the art of the biography the narrative urgency' \u003ci\u003eNEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW \u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cb\u003e' . . . she is unravelling a long distorted mystery' \u003ci\u003eKIRKUS REVIEWS \u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003ePursued by the twin demons of drink and madness, Branwell Bronte created a private world that was indeed infernal. As a bold and gifted child, his promise seemed boundless to the three adoring sisters over whom his rule was complete. But as an adult, the precocious flame of genius distorted and burned low. With neither the strength nor the resources to counter rejection, unable to sell his paintings or publish his books, Branwell became a spectre in the Bronte story, in pathetic contrast with the astonishing achievements of Charlotte, Emily and Anne. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eDaphne du Maurier concentrates all her biographer's skill on the shadowy figure of Branwell Bronte. No reader could fail to be intensely moved by Branwell's final retreat into laudanum, alcohol and death. \u003c\/b\u003e","brand":"Virago","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":37542712410291,"sku":"9781844080755","price":12.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0511\/3364\/4979\/products\/9781844080755-original.jpg?v=1771432137"},{"product_id":"the-rebecca-notebook","title":"The Rebecca Notebook","description":"\u003cb\u003eBY THE BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF \u003ci\u003eREBECCA \u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003eINTRODUCED BY ALISON LIGHT\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003cbr\u003e'The genuine, thoughtful voice of a woman whose works have been loved by millions' \u003ci\u003eNEW YORK TIMES\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cb\u003e'Daphne du Maurier has no equal' \u003ci\u003eSUNDAY TELEGRAPH \u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003e'Du Maurier created a scale by which modern women can measure their feelings' \u003c\/i\u003eSTEPHEN KING \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe Rebecca Notebook \u003c\/i\u003eprovides an unparalleled insight into the mastery of a writer's craft and the inner vision that made du Maurier a household name. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eOne of the great international bestsellers, \u003ci\u003eRebecca \u003c\/i\u003ealso inspired a film, a play and television dramas. This perfect companion volume, \u003ci\u003eThe Rebecca Notebook\u003c\/i\u003e, outlines just how \u003ci\u003eRebecca \u003c\/i\u003ecame to be written, tracing its origins, developments and the directions it might have taken. The author reveals how she first came upon the secret house, hidden deep in the Cornish woodland, that was to become the romantic setting for her most famous novel: a house which stood derelict, and which she lovingly restored to create her own home. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe accompanying Memories introduce other members of her family: her father Gerald, the famous actor; her grandfather George, whose \u003ci\u003ePunch\u003c\/i\u003e drawings made him world famous; and her cousins, for whom J. M. Barrie wrote \u003ci\u003ePeter Pan\u003c\/i\u003e.","brand":"Virago","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":37542719422643,"sku":"9781844080908","price":12.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0511\/3364\/4979\/products\/9781844080908-original.jpg?v=1771432225"},{"product_id":"myself-when-young","title":"Myself When Young","description":"\u003cb\u003e'A delightful book, full of amusing and charming stories' \u003ci\u003eTHE TIMES\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cb\u003e'Daphne du Maurier has no equal' \u003ci\u003eSUNDAY TELEGRAPH\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cb\u003e'An intimate view of a creative personality . . . as richly evocative as any of her novels'  \u003ci\u003eLOS ANGELES TIMES\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIn \u003ci\u003eMyself When Young\u003c\/i\u003e, based on diaries that she kept from 1920-1932, the most famous du Maurier probes her own past, beginning with her earliest memories and encompassing the publication of her first book and her subsequent marriage.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eHere, the writer is open and sometimes painfully honest about the difficult relationship with her father; her education in Paris; early love affairs; her antipathy towards London life and the theatre; her intense love for Cornwall and her desperate ambition to succeed as a writer. The resulting portrait is of a captivating and complex character. Both her novels and her non-fiction reveal Daphne du Maurier's overwhelming desire to explore her family's history.","brand":"Virago","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":37542719881395,"sku":"9781844080960","price":12.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0511\/3364\/4979\/products\/9781844080960-original.jpg?v=1771432240"},{"product_id":"all-the-dogs-of-my-life","title":"All The Dogs Of My Life","description":"First published in 1936, this is the story of Elizabeth von Arnim's extraordinary life - and her equally extraordinary dogs. From her Pomeranian idyll (celebrated in her famous first book, ELIZABETH AND HER GERMAN GARDEN), to less happy days in London following the death of her first husband; from the beautiful solitude of her Swiss mountain hideaway, to the First World War and a disastrous second marriage, the author takes us on a disarmingly witty and poignant journey of canine companionship.","brand":"Virago","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":37542733119667,"sku":"9781844082773","price":14.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0511\/3364\/4979\/products\/9781844082773-original.jpg?v=1755314209"},{"product_id":"an-angel-at-my-table","title":"An Angel At My Table","description":"\u003cb\u003eNOW AN AWARD-WINNING FILM ON NETFLIX \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cb\u003e'One of the great autobiographies written in the twentieth century' MICHAEL HOLROYD, \u003ci\u003eSUNDAY TIMES\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cb\u003e'Irresistibly readable, commendably honest' FLEUR ADCOCK, \u003ci\u003eTIMES LITERARY SUPPLEMENT\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cb\u003e'The Janet Frame of \u003ci\u003eAn Angel at My Table\u003c\/i\u003e is a writer of exceptional sensitivity'\u003ci\u003e \u003c\/i\u003e\u003ci\u003eLOS ANGELES TIMES\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAfter being misdiagnosed with schizophrenia as a young woman, Janet Frame spent several years in psychiatric institutions. She escaped undergoing a lobotomy when it was discovered that she had just won a national literary prize. She then went on to become New Zealand's most acclaimed writer. As she says more than once in this autobiography: 'My writing saved me.'\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThis edition contains all three volumes of Frame's autobiography: \u003ci\u003eTo the Is-Land\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eAn Angel at My Table\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eAn Envoy from Mirror City\u003c\/i\u003e.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003cbr\u003e'One of the most beautiful and moving books I have ever read . . . A masterpiece . . . Janet's autobiography had an enormous effect on me. She struck a blow right to my heart' JANE CAMPION, \u003ci\u003eGUARDIAN \u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e","brand":"Virago","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":37542751240371,"sku":"9781844086238","price":14.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"Trade Paperback","offer_id":43014826393779,"sku":"9780349018546","price":16.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0511\/3364\/4979\/products\/9781844086238-original.jpg?v=1771468520"},{"product_id":"willa-cather","title":"Willa Cather","description":"","brand":"Virago","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":37542752125107,"sku":"9781844084920","price":12.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0511\/3364\/4979\/products\/9781844084920-original.jpg?v=1771433971"},{"product_id":"the-turkish-embassy-letters","title":"The Turkish Embassy Letters","description":"","brand":"Virago","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":37542790660275,"sku":"9781853816796","price":12.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0511\/3364\/4979\/products\/9781853816796-original.jpg?v=1771468660"},{"product_id":"testament-of-friendship","title":"Testament of Friendship","description":"\u003cb\u003eWRITTEN WITH A NEW INTRODUCTION BY MARK BOSTRIDGE \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/b\u003eIn her bestselling first volume of autobiography, \u003ci\u003eTestament of Youth\u003c\/i\u003e, Vera Brittain passionately recorded the agonising years of the First World War, lamenting the destruction of a generation which for her included those she most dearly loved - her lover, her brother and her closest friends.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIn \u003ci\u003eTestament of Friendship\u003c\/i\u003e Brittain tells the story of the woman who helped her survive those tragic years - the writer Winifred Holtby. They met at Somerville College, Oxford, immediately after the war. Their friendship continued through Vera's marriage and their separate but parallel writing careers until Winifred's untimely death at the age of thirty-seven. When she died, her fame as a writer was about to reach its peak with the publication of her greatest novel, \u003ci\u003eSouth Riding\u003c\/i\u003e. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eA moving record of a friendship between two women of courage, determination and intelligence and a wonderful portrait of a lifelong love. \u003ci\u003eTestament of Friendship\u003c\/i\u003e now takes its rightful place as a Virago Modern Classic.","brand":"Virago","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":37542845087923,"sku":"9781844088706","price":14.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0511\/3364\/4979\/products\/9781844088706-original.jpg?v=1755315560"},{"product_id":"divided-lives","title":"Divided Lives","description":"Lyndall Gordon was born in 1941 in Cape Town, a place from which `a ship takes fourteen days to reach anywhere that matters'. Born to a mother whose mysterious illness confined her for years to life indoors, Lyndall was her secret sharer, a child who grew to know life through books, story-telling and her mother's own writings. It was an exciting, precious world, pure and rich in dreams and imagination - untainted by the demands of reality. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBut a daughter grows up. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eDespite her own inability to leave home for long, Lyndall's mother believed in migration, a belief that became almost a necessity once the horrors of apartheid gripped their country. Lyndall loves the rocks, the sea, the light of Cape Town, but, struggling to achieve a life approved by her mother, she tries and makes a failure of living in Israel and then, back once again in her beloved South Africa she marries and moves with her husband to New York. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIt's in America in 1968 when suddenly Lyndall realises she cannot be, and does not want to be, the woman, the daughter and the mother her mother wants her to be. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThis is a wonderfully layered memoir about the expectations of love and duty between mother and daughter. The particular time and place, the people and the situation are Lyndall's, but the division between generations, the pain and the joy of being a daughter are everywoman's.","brand":"Virago","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":37542846595251,"sku":"9781844088911","price":9.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0511\/3364\/4979\/products\/9781844088911-original.jpg?v=1762958483"},{"product_id":"henry-james","title":"Henry James","description":"James's friendship with Constance Fenimore Woolson ended in 1894 when he tried to drown a boatload of her dresses in the Venetian lagoon; she had fallen to her death three months before. It was an elusive friendship that echoed his mysterious relationship with Minny Temple who had died twenty years earlier. From their graves, these two women haunted his imagination and his fiction, inspiring the creation of his heroines.","brand":"Virago","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":37542848823475,"sku":"9781844088928","price":24.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0511\/3364\/4979\/products\/9781844088928-original.jpg?v=1756522370"},{"product_id":"tea-by-the-nursery-fire","title":"Tea By The Nursery Fire","description":"Emily Huckwell spent almost her entire life working for one family. Born in a tiny Sussex village in the 1870s, she went into domestic service in the Burton household before she was twelve, earning £5 a year. She began as a nursery maid, progressing to under nurse and then head nanny, looking after two generations of children. One of the children in her care was the father of Noel Streatfeild, the author of Ballet Shoes and one of the best-loved children's writers of the 20th century. Basing her story on fact and family legend, Noel Streatfeild here tells Emily's story, and with her characteristic warmth and intimacy creates a fascinating portrait of Victorian and Edwardian life above and below stairs.","brand":"Virago","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":37542850330803,"sku":"9781844088980","price":14.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0511\/3364\/4979\/products\/9781844088980-original.jpg?v=1755315633"},{"product_id":"wave","title":"Wave","description":"\u003cb\u003eWinner of the PEN\/Ackerley Prize 2014\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe book opens and we are inside the wave: thirty feet high, moving at twenty-five mph, racing two miles inland. And from there into the depths of the author's despair: how to live now that her life has been undone? \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSonali Deraniyagala tells her story - the loss of her two boys, her husband, and her parents - without artifice or sentimentality. In the stark language of unfathomable sorrow, anger, and guilt: she struggles through the first months following the tragedy -- someone always at her side to prevent her from harming herself, her whole being furiously clenched against the reality she can't face; and then reluctantly emerging and, over the ensuing years, slowly allowing her memory to function again. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThen she goes back through the rich and joyous life she's mourning, from her family's home in London, to the birth of her children, to the year she met her English husband at Cambridge, to her childhood in Colombo while learning the balance between the almost unbearable reminders of her loss and her fundamental need to keep her family, somehow, still with her.","brand":"Virago","offers":[{"title":"Trade Paperback","offer_id":37542850953395,"sku":"9781844089079","price":14.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0511\/3364\/4979\/products\/9781844089079-original.jpg?v=1757212268"},{"product_id":"mom-and-me-and-mom","title":"Mom and Me and Mom","description":"\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003e'In the first decade of the twentieth century, it was not a good time to be born black, or woman, in America.' \u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSo begins this stunning portrait of Vivian Baxter Johnson: the first black woman officer in the Merchant Marines, purveyor of a gambling business and rooming house, and mother to Maya Angelou, beloved and bestselling author of \u003ci\u003eI KNOW WHY THE CAGED BIRD SING\u003c\/i\u003eS.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e'A brilliant writer, a fierce friend and a truly phenomenal woman' BARACK OBAMA\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAnyone who's read the classic, \u003ci\u003eI Know Why the Caged Bird Sings\u003c\/i\u003e, knows Maya Angelou was raised by her paternal grandmother in Stamps, Arkansas. In \u003ci\u003eMom and Me and Mom\u003c\/i\u003e, Angelou details what brought her mother to send her away and unearths the well of emotions Angelou experienced long afterward as a result. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWhile Angelou's first six autobiographies reveal about her out in the world, influencing and learning from statesmen and cultural icons, her final autobiography and conclusion to the series, \u003ci\u003eMom and\u003c\/i\u003e \u003ci\u003eMe and Mom, \u003c\/i\u003eshares the intimate, emotional story about her own family.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e'She moved through the world with unshakeable calm, confidence and a fierce grace . . . She will always be the rainbow in my clouds' OPRAH WINFREY\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e 'She was important in so many ways. She launched African American women writing in the United States. She was generous to a fault. She had nineteen talents - used ten. And was a real original. There is no duplicate' TONI MORRISON\u003c\/b\u003e","brand":"Virago","offers":[{"title":"Paperback ( Published 2024-04-04 )","offer_id":42704403660979,"sku":"9780349017129","price":10.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"Paperback ( Published 2014-03-06 )","offer_id":42997758361779,"sku":"9781844089154","price":8.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0511\/3364\/4979\/products\/9780349017129-original.jpg?v=1756522396"},{"product_id":"outsiders","title":"Outsiders","description":"\u003ci\u003eOutsiders\u003c\/i\u003e tells the stories of five novelists - Mary Shelley, Emily Brontë, George Eliot, Olive Schreiner, Virginia Woolf - and their famous novels.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWe have long known their individual greatness but in linking their creativity to their lives as outsiders, this group biography throws new light on the genius they share. 'Outsider', 'outlaw', 'outcast': a woman's reputation was her security and each of these five lost it. As writers, they made these identities their own, taking advantage of their separation from the dominant order to write their novels.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAll five were motherless. With no female model at hand, they learnt from books; and if lucky, from an enlightened man; and crucially each had to imagine what a woman could be in order to invent a voice of their own. They understood female desire: the passion and sexual bravery in their own lives infused their fictions.\u003cbr\u003eWhat they have in common also is the way they inform one another, and us, across the generations. Even today we do more than read them; we listen and live with them.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLyndall Gordon's biographies have always shown the indelible connection between life and art: an intuitive, exciting and revealing approach that has been highly praised and much read and enjoyed. She names each of these five as prodigy, visionary, outlaw, orator and explorer and shows how they came, they saw and left us changed.","brand":"Virago","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":37542880116915,"sku":"9780349006369","price":12.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0511\/3364\/4979\/products\/9780349006369-original.jpg?v=1755316266"},{"product_id":"the-secret-diaries-of-miss-anne-lister-vol2","title":"The Secret Diaries of Miss Anne Lister – Vol.2","description":"","brand":"Virago","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":37542884049075,"sku":"9780349013336","price":9.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0511\/3364\/4979\/products\/9780349013336-original.jpg?v=1757472069"},{"product_id":"in-my-own-time-1","title":"In My Own Time","description":"For the past four years Jane Miller, author of \u003ci\u003eCrazy Age: Thoughts on Being Old\u003c\/i\u003e, has been writing a column for an American magazine called \u003ci\u003eIn These Times\u003c\/i\u003e. Her beautifully observed pieces about life, politics and Britain open a window to her American readers of a world very different from their own.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e'Her erudition is both dazzling and lightly borne, the personal often illuminating the political . . . Miller's is a welcome, necessary voice - readable, informative and entertaining' \u003ci\u003eTimes Literary Supplement\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003eJane Miller, author of the acclaimed \u003ci\u003eCrazy Age,\u003c\/i\u003e has for the past few years been writing a column for an American magazine based in Chicago called \u003ci\u003eIn These Times\u003c\/i\u003e. Now, these beautifully observed pieces about life, politics and Britain, which opened a window for Americans on a world rather different from their own, are collected and published for the first time for her British readers.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e'Miller is a fantastic companion' Viv Groskop, \u003ci\u003eTelegraph\u003c\/i\u003e","brand":"Virago","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":37542887981235,"sku":"9780349007571","price":9.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0511\/3364\/4979\/products\/9780349007571-original.jpg?v=1755316432"},{"product_id":"turning","title":"Turning","description":"'The water slips over me like cool silk. The intimacy of touch uninhibited, rising around my legs, over my waist,  up to my collarbone. When I throw back my head and relax, the lake runs into my ears. The sound of it is a muffled roar, the vibration of the body amplified by water, every sound felt as if in slow motion . . .' Summer swimming . . . but Jessica Lee - Canadian, Chinese and British - swims through all four seasons and especially loves the winter. 'I long for the ice. The sharp cut of freezing water on my feet. The immeasurable black of the lake at its coldest. Swimming then means cold, and pain, and elation.'\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAt the age of twenty-eight, Jessica Lee, who grew up in Canada and lived in London, finds herself in Berlin. Alone. Lonely, with lowered spirits thanks to some family history and a broken heart, she is there, ostensibly, to write a thesis. And though that is what she does daily, what increasingly occupies her is swimming. So she makes a decision that she believes will win her back her confidence and independence: she will swim fifty-two of the lakes around Berlin, no matter what the weather or season. She is aware that this particular landscape is not without its own ghosts and history.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThis is the story of a beautiful obsession: of the thrill of a still, turquoise lake, of cracking the ice before submerging, of floating under blue skies, of tangled weeds and murkiness, of cool, fresh, spring swimming - of facing past fears of near drowning and of breaking free.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWhen she completes her year of swimming Jessica finds she has new strength, and she has also found friends and has gained some understanding of how the landscape both haunts and holds us.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThis book is for everyone who loves swimming, who wishes they could push themselves beyond caution, who understands the deep pleasure of using their body's strength, who knows what it is to allow oneself to abandon all thought and float home to the surface.","brand":"Virago","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":37542892601523,"sku":"9780349008332","price":12.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0511\/3364\/4979\/products\/9780349008332-original.jpg?v=1755659566"},{"product_id":"on-smaller-dogs-and-larger-life-questions","title":"On Smaller Dogs and Larger Life Questions","description":"Coming up to her sixtieth birthday, Kate Figes found herself turning to the larger questions of family, love and life's meaning.  It is like this author to examine different  stages in writing, and her books - from new motherhood and adolescence to coupledom and infidelity - testify to this way of understanding herself and others: so naturally she turned to writing to explore the challenges of becoming sixty.  And then - a horrible, and sudden diagnosis of breast cancer which had metastasised.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eInstead of a gentle journey into middle age, Kate Figes began to write for her life. Now, clawing back confidence and control was not just the ordinary business of these years: it was the only way to try and survive great pain and emotional turmoil. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e As her writing became an honest reflection on ageing, failing, regrets and the importance of childhood memory, friends, family and love she found a new determination to live to the full and about finding ways to face up to a shortened life expectancy with dignity.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eOriginal, passionate, funny and moving,\u003ci\u003e On Smaller Dogs and Larger Life Questions \u003c\/i\u003e will resonate with anyone dealing with the many griefs and freedoms of midlife. It is about living with a life-threatening disease but it is even more: an intelligent and passionate look at the way we can approach disappointment and trouble, friendship and love - every day.","brand":"Virago","offers":[{"title":"Hardback","offer_id":37542907609267,"sku":"9780349011028","price":14.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0511\/3364\/4979\/products\/9780349011028-original.jpg?v=1755316929"},{"product_id":"vindication-a-life-of-mary-wollstonecraft","title":"Vindication: A Life Of Mary Wollstonecraft","description":"In this stunning new biography of the eighteenth-century writer Mary Wollstonecraft, Lyndall Gordon explores the life of a woman often criticised by biographers, historians and feminists alike. Gordon challenges such slanders, and portrays instead the genius of this extraordinary woman. The two-generation approach to her life examines not only Wollstonecraft herself, but also her effect on her daughters and heirs (Mary Shelley, Fanny Imlay, Claire Clairmont and Margaret Mount Cashell), and the ways in which they carried her influence into subsequent generations.\u003cbr\u003eGordon takes stock of Wollstonecraft's life in accord with her own values rather than through the reputation history has given her. The author looks at her important relationships with Gilbert Imlay and William Godwin, and her ideas about issues such as the problems of communication between the sexes and parenthood. Through this brilliant study, Gordon, the author of biographies of Virginia Woolf and Charlotte Brontë among others, successfully reinterprets Mary Wollstonecraft for the twenty-first century.","brand":"Virago","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":37560629952691,"sku":"9781844081417","price":24.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0511\/3364\/4979\/products\/9781844081417-original.jpg?v=1755313993"},{"product_id":"the-hyacinth-girl","title":"The Hyacinth Girl","description":"\u003cb\u003eThe revealing of the hidden muse - Emily Hale - the Hyacinth Girl of the famous \u003ci\u003eThe Waste Land\u003c\/i\u003e poem - who influenced the life and art of TS Eliot.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAmong the greatest of poets, T.S. Eliot protected his privacy while publicly associated with three women: two wives, Vivienne and Valerie, and a church-going companion, Mary Trevelyan. This presentation concealed a life-long love for an American: Emily Hale, a drama teacher who was the source of 'memory and desire' in \u003ci\u003eThe Waste Land\u003c\/i\u003e; she is the Hyacinth Girl. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eDrawing on the recently unsealed 1,131 letters Eliot wrote to Hale and suppressed in his lifetime, leading biographer Lyndall Gordon reveals both the hidden poet and the muse who was the first and consistently important woman of his life and art. Emily Hale was at the centre of a love drama he conceived and the inspiration for the lines he wrote to last beyond their time. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e'Extraordinary... a rare work'\u003c\/b\u003e COLM TOIBIN\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e'As exciting as a detective story'\u003c\/b\u003e MARGARET DRABBLE\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e'Will change the way Eliot is seen'\u003c\/b\u003e MIRANDA SEYMOUR","brand":"Virago","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":42349094666419,"sku":"9780349012094","price":12.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"Hardback","offer_id":41380065444019,"sku":"9780349012117","price":25.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0511\/3364\/4979\/products\/9780349012094-original.jpg?v=1755317134"},{"product_id":"between-friends","title":"Between Friends","description":"\u003cb\u003e\u003ch3\u003eThe letters between Vera Brittain, author of Testament of Youth, and Winifred Holtby, author of South Riding, tell the story of an extraordinary friendship\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cb\u003e'Touching and inspiring' \u003c\/b\u003eRACHEL COOKE, \u003ci\u003eObserver\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cb\u003e'Lively, perceptive' \u003c\/b\u003eMIRANDA SEYMOUR, \u003ci\u003eLiterary Review\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cb\u003e'A beautiful collection' \u003c\/b\u003eDAISY DUNN, \u003ci\u003eSunday Times\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cb\u003e'A moving unvarnished chronicle' \u003c\/b\u003eSarah Watling, \u003ci\u003eTelegraph\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/b\u003eFrom the time when they met at Somerville College, Oxford, until Winifred's early death at the age of thirty-seven, they wrote constantly, encouraging and advising each other, even through periods as literary rivals as they negotiated envy and self-doubt. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eVera decisively influenced Winifred's passion for feminism and peace and Winifred gave Vera crucial support, fiercely believing in her literary gifts. Their letters, written from 1920 to 1935, kept them 'continuously together'.","brand":"Virago","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":42494051909811,"sku":"9780349012285","price":12.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"Hardback","offer_id":41467114913971,"sku":"9780349012292","price":25.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0511\/3364\/4979\/products\/9780349012285-original.jpg?v=1755317196"},{"product_id":"shirley-hazzard-a-writing-life","title":"Shirley Hazzard: A Writing Life","description":"\u003cb\u003e\u003ch3\u003eCosmopolitan, richly intelligent, beautiful, questing - Shirley Hazzard's writing reflects her life. The acclaim it attracts is immeasurable.\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/b\u003eBrigitta Olubas tells the story of a girl from the suburbs of Sydney, Australia who fell early under the spell of words and sought out books as her companions. In the process she transformed and indeed created her life. She became a woman of the world who felt injustice keenly and a deep and original thinker, who wrote some of the most beautiful novels - \u003ci\u003eTransit of Venus\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eThe Great Fire\u003c\/i\u003e among them - and always with an eye to the ways we reveal ourselves to another. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e'One of those rare biographies that sends one greedily back to the subject's word, better equipped to appreciate the richness on display'\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLUCY SCHOLES, \u003ci\u003eFinancial Times\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e'Strikingly well-placed and well-proportioned... as befits her subject, Olubas comes with a gift for place and psychology' \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMICHAEL HOFMANN, \u003ci\u003eTimes Literary Supplement\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cb\u003e'This new account of Hazzard's life should confirm her as one of the 20th century's greatest novelists' \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eCHLOE SCHAMA, \u003ci\u003eVogue\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e'An impeccably researched and deeply incisive account of Hazzard's life and work, and the intriguing interplay between the two' \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLILY KING, \u003ci\u003eNew York Times\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e","brand":"Virago","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":42223915860147,"sku":"9780349012865","price":12.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"Hardback","offer_id":41525611790515,"sku":"9780349012889","price":25.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0511\/3364\/4979\/products\/9780349012865-original.jpg?v=1755317270"},{"product_id":"confessions-of-a-failed-southern-lady","title":"Confessions Of A Failed Southern Lady","description":"","brand":"Virago","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":42997780480179,"sku":"9781844081288","price":12.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0511\/3364\/4979\/products\/9781844081288-original.jpg?v=1771468416"},{"product_id":"girl-interrupted","title":"Girl, Interrupted","description":"\u003ci\u003eCrazy isn't being broken or swallowing a dark secret. It's you or me amplified. If you ever told a lie and enjoyed it. If you ever wished you could be a child forever.\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e In 1967, after a session with a psychiatrist she'd never seen before, eighteen-year-old Susanna Kaysen was put in a taxi and sent to McLean Hospital to be treated for depression. She spent most of the next two years on the ward for teenage girls in a psychiatric hospital renowned for its famous clientele - Sylvia Plath, Robert Lowell, James Taylor and Ray Charles. Unflinchingly honest and darkly funny, this bestselling memoir is a sharply vivid portrait of Susanna's fellow patients, the kaleidoscopically shifting world of the late sixties, and how sometimes the only way to stay sane is to go a little crazy.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e'\u003ci\u003eGirl, Interrupted\u003c\/i\u003e is a beautiful, complex story that truly led the way on opening up a new, brave, nuanced approach to talking about women's mental health. An intense and personal story that taps into a universal truth about how the world responds to complicated young women' SCARLETT CURTIS\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003cbr\u003e 'Poignant, honest and triumphantly funny . . . A compelling and heartbreaking story' NEW YORK TIMES\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003cbr\u003e'Not since Sylvia Plath's \u003ci\u003eThe Bell Jar\u003c\/i\u003e has a personal account of life in a mental hospital achieved as much popularity and acclaim' \u003ci\u003eTIME\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e'A cool, elegant and unexpectedly funny memoir' \u003ci\u003eSUNDAY TIMES\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e \u003ci\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e'Memorable and stirring' \u003ci\u003eVOGUE\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e","brand":"Virago","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":43919389687987,"sku":"9780349019598","price":10.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0511\/3364\/4979\/files\/9780349019598-original.jpg?v=1771468719"},{"product_id":"losing-the-dead","title":"Losing the Dead","description":"As her mother slipped into the darkness of old age, Lisa Appignanesi began to realise how little she knew of the reality behind the tales she had heard since childhood. She had shunned her parents' stories of war-time Poland, but now she set out to find the truth. In her quest she flew to Warsaw - imagining and revisiting a past she never knew.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThis is the moving story of the Jews who survived outside the camps, but it is also the author's own voyage of self-discovery - a family memoir of the rites of passage of emigration, childhood, and growing up an outsider in a closed  community","brand":"Virago","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":42997783068851,"sku":"9781844089291","price":9.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0511\/3364\/4979\/products\/9781844089291-original.jpg?v=1755315677"},{"product_id":"molly-keane","title":"Molly Keane","description":"\u003cb\u003eMolly Keane\u003c\/b\u003e (1904 - 96) was an Irish novelist and playwright (born in County Kildare) most famous for \u003ci\u003eGood Behaviour \u003c\/i\u003ewhich was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize. Hailed as the Irish Nancy Mitford in her day; as well as writing books she was the leading playwright of the '30s, her work directed by John Gielgud. Between 1928 and 1956, she wrote eleven novels, and some of her earlier plays, under the pseudonym \u003cb\u003eM.J. Farrell. \u003c\/b\u003eIn 1981, aged seventy, she published \u003ci\u003eGood Behaviour \u003c\/i\u003eunder her own name.  The manuscript, which had languished in a drawer for many years, was lent to a visitor, the actress Peggy Ashcroft, who encouraged Keane to publish it.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMolly Keane's  novels reflect the world she inhabited; she was from a 'rather serious hunting and fishing, church-going family'. She was educated, as was the custom in Anglo-Irish households, by a series of governesses and then at boarding school. Distant and awkward relationships between children and their parents would prove to be a recurring theme for Keane. Maggie O'Farrell wrote that 'she writes better than anyone else about the mother-daughter relationship, in all its thorny, fraught, inescapable complexity.'\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eHere, for the first time, is her biography and, written by one of her two daughters, it provides an honest portrait of a fascinating, complicated woman who was a brilliant writer and a portrait of the Anglo-Irish world of the first half of the twentieth century.","brand":"Virago","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":42997787558067,"sku":"9780349007540","price":12.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0511\/3364\/4979\/products\/9780349007540-original.jpg?v=1757040143"},{"product_id":"the-imperfect-life-of-t-s-eliot","title":"The Imperfect Life of T. S. Eliot","description":"\u003cb\u003eThe most authoritative life of Eliot ever written, by acclaimed biographer Lyndall Gordon\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eT. S. Eliot once spoke of a lifetime burning in every moment. He had the mind to conceive a perfect life, and he also had the honesty to admit he could not meet it.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e'He was a man of extremes whose deep flaws and high virtues were interfused,' writes Lyndall Gordon in this perceptive and innovative biography of the great poet. She brilliantly explores his poetry, drama and essays in relationship to the four quite different women in his life and to his time in America and England. \u003ci\u003eThe Imperfect Life of T.S. Eliot\u003c\/i\u003e follows the trials of a searcher whose flaws and doubts speak to all of us whose lives are imperfect.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e'The most valuable single book yet published about Eliot' \u003c\/b\u003eJonathan Raban, \u003ci\u003eSunday Times\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e'Subtle and authoritative'\u003c\/b\u003e Aida Edemariam, \u003ci\u003eGuardian\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cb\u003e'Daring, strong and psychologically brilliant' \u003c\/b\u003eCynthia Ozick, \u003ci\u003eNew Yorker\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cb\u003e'An intellectually demanding, sophisticated and distinguished book... Probing and extremely thoughtful' \u003c\/b\u003eRichard Bernstein, \u003ci\u003eNew York Times\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cb\u003e'An awesome achievement'\u003c\/b\u003e Arminta Wallace, \u003ci\u003eIrish Times\u003c\/i\u003e","brand":"Virago","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":54844450603384,"sku":"9781844088935","price":14.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0511\/3364\/4979\/files\/9781844088935-original.jpg?v=1755315618"},{"product_id":"last-night-i-dreamt","title":"Last Night I Dreamt","description":"\u003cb\u003eAn intimate, revelatory family biography of the iconic writer Daphne du Maurier and her famous ancestors, by her eldest grandson\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003eBorn into a famous artistic dynasty, Daphne grew up in an atmosphere of carefree privilege. At a time when girls of her class were not expected to have a career, she defied convention and moved to Cornwall to pursue her ambition to become a writer. There, over six decades, she dreamt up the stories that have sold tens of millions of copies worldwide and still haunt our cultural imagination, including \u003ci\u003eRebecca, Jamaica Inn \u003c\/i\u003eand 'The Birds'.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eLast Night I Dreamt \u003c\/i\u003eexplores how the turbulence and contradictions of Daphne's own life - spanning war, affairs, a marriage to a renowned but damaged general, and unrequited love - inspired her writing. It also uncovers the powerful influence of her notable forebears, in particular her domineering father Gerald, the most famous actor-manager of his generation; her grandfather George, a renowned Victorian novelist and cartoonist; and the mistress to the Duke of York, Mary Anne Clarke, another woman who refused to obey the rules.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003ePaul de Zulueta, Daphne's grandson, has drawn on private family archives, new interviews and his own memories of his grandmother, a woman who was central to his early life. In doing so, he gives us an extraordinary look into the world of Daphne du Maurier with rare closeness and emotional candour, and a moving portrait of one of the great British artistic families of the 19th and 20th centuries.","brand":"Virago","offers":[{"title":"Hardback","offer_id":55485435543928,"sku":"9780349020440","price":25.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0511\/3364\/4979\/files\/9780349020440-original.jpg?v=1776230124"},{"product_id":"freedoms-gate","title":"Freedom's Gate","description":"\u003cb\u003eAn illuminating portrait of five Black woman artists, including Maya Angelou and Nina Simone, and the New York nightclub that helped inspire the civil rights movement\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBefore they became household names, Maya Angelou, Lorraine Hansberry, Abbey Lincoln, Miriam Makeba, and Nina Simone needed a place to practice and perform. That place was the Village Gate, a New York City nightclub that became a downtown hotspot for Black art, culture, music, and politics. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eFreedom's Gate \u003c\/i\u003edepicts the deepening political convictions and groundbreaking artistry of women of the Gate as they developed as entertainers, activists, and intellectuals in the spotlight of art and revolution. From Hansberry's \u003ci\u003eA Raisin in the Sun\u003c\/i\u003e to Nina Simone's \"Mississippi Goddam\" and Abbey Lincoln and Max Roach's \u003ci\u003eWe Insist! Freedom Now Suite\u003c\/i\u003e, Soyica Diggs Colbert brings to life the culture and performances that were the soundtrack to Black freedom struggles in the 1950s and early 1960s.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWith supporting roles from stars and activists such as Harry Belafonte, Stokely Carmichael, and Sidney Poitier, \u003ci\u003eFreedom's Gate \u003c\/i\u003eis a vibrant history of a little-known chapter of the civil rights movement that gave voice and soul to the call for liberation.","brand":"Virago","offers":[{"title":"Hardback","offer_id":55545675022712,"sku":"9780349018867","price":25.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0511\/3364\/4979\/files\/9780349018867-original.jpg?v=1777947695"}],"url":"https:\/\/store.virago.co.uk\/collections\/literary-figures-pid-29786319.oembed?page=3","provider":"Virago Bookshop","version":"1.0","type":"link"}