Flush was an English cocker spaniel who belonged to the nineteenth-century poet Elizabeth Barrett Browning. Virginia Woolf learned of him from the love letters Elizabeth wrote to her future husband, fellow poet Robert Browning, and found 'the figure of their dog made me laugh so, I couldn't resist making him a Life.' The resulting 'biography' combines sensuous imaginative description with sharp social comment, and brings Woolf's unsentimental humour and insight to the fore. We see Flush as loyal confidant to Elizabeth on her sickbed at Wimpole Street, and from his jealous perspective we witness her courtship by Browning, their elopement and new life in Italy. The perfect accessible introduction to Woolf's genius, a unique blend of fact and fiction, Flush is perhaps best read in the company of a canine companion.

This edition includes the four original illustrations by Vanessa Bell and an afterword by Margaret Forster.
Cover designed by the award-winning Finnish designer Aino-Maija Metsola

A gorgeous Vintage Classics edition of Virginia Woolf's lively, witty and insightful 'biography' of the cocker spaniel Flush, loyal companion to nineteenth century poet Elizabeth Barrett Browning

About the Author
Virginia Woolf was born in London in 1882, the daughter of Sir Leslie Stephen, first editor of The Dictionary of National Biography. From 1915, when she published her first novel, The Voyage Out, Virginia Woolf maintained an astonishing output of fiction, literary criticism, essays and biography. In 1912 she married Leonard Woolf, and in 1917 they founded the Hogarth Press. Virginia Woolf suffered a series of mental breakdowns throughout her life, and on 28 March 1941 she committed suicide.

Reviews
A most triumphant trespassing of human imagination into dog sensibilities... The result is a book of irresistible grace and charm * Spectator *
Flush is an afternoon's delight for dog-loving readers. It's wit and whimsy and sniffing, snuffling playfulness will amuse anyone who's ever known a spaniel. Woolf's literary underdog is a canine classic. * Guardian *
A masterpiece... It is not fiction because it has the substance, the reality of truth. It is not biography because it has the freedom, the artistry of fiction * New York Herald Tribune Books *



Book Information
ISBN 9781784875138
Author Virginia Woolf
Format Paperback
Page Count 144
Imprint Vintage Classics
Publisher Vintage Publishing
Weight(grams) 110g
Dimensions(mm) 178mm * 129mm * 8mm