A moving and important book on the relationship between two remarkable sisters who jointly created the Bloomsbury Group

'An outstanding work... one of the best books on Virginia Woolf to date' Literary Review

'Dunn's unlayering of this complex relationship is subtle and far-reaching' Sunday Times

'An investigation into the dynamics of friendship and sibling rivalry, maternal solicitude and mutual need' New York Times

'A revealing pleasure' Independent

This is the story of a deep and close relationship between two sisters - Virginia Woolf and Vanessa Bell. The influence they exerted over each others lives, their competitiveness, the fierce love they had for each other and also their intense rivalry is explored here with subtlety and compassion. The thoughts, motives and actions of these two remarkably artistic women who jointly created the Bloomsbury Group is revealed with all its intricacies in this moving biography.

* Featured on the Virago website at www.virago.uk * Review coverage in the national press

About the Author
Jane Dunn is the author of six acclaimed biographies: from Elizabeth & Mary: Cousins, Rivals, Queens, (a Sunday Times and New York Times bestseller) to Daphne du Maurier and her Sisters. Mostly studying relationships within families, she has also written on such striking individuals as writers Mary Shelley and Antonia White. But long intrigued by the domestic fallout of the Napoleonic Wars, she has most recently turned to writing historical fiction set in the Regency. Now Virago reissues her ground-breaking exploration of the relationship between the sisters, Vanessa Bell and Virginia Woolf: A Very Close Conspiracy. Jane Dunn is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and lives in Berkshire with her husband, the linguist and author Nicholas Ostler.

Reviews
An outstanding work, and reading it is a source of real pleasure... one of the best books on Virginia Woolf to date * Literary Review *
Her unlayering of this complex relationship is subtle and far-reaching... The wealth of the material makes possible some of the brilliant equations to be found in this book * Sunday Times *
Dunn plunges deep beneath the surface to the complicated emotions and personalities of these two women, illuminating them with great clarity and understanding * Observer *
Jane Dunn's astute account of their relationship is a revealing pleasure * Independent *
By presenting us with a double portrait, its two subjects seen in relation to each other rather than in isolation, we come so much nearer the living reality, in all its complexity, its double-sidedness, its light and shadow. This is one of the few books which allows me to believe that the author actually knew both my mother and my aunt, and I welcome it as deepening my understanding both of them and their relation to Bloomsbury * Angelica Garnett *
Dunn is excellent on the many rivalries and hostilities between the sisters, and on Virginia's betrayal of Vanessa through her affair with Vanessa's husband, Clive Bell, while Vanessa was struggling to cope with their first baby. Virginia threatens to take over the book as she at times took over her sister's life: always cleverer, more talkative, wittier and with a greater gift for intimacy. But in the end Vanessa's impassivity, her enigmatic silence, hold their own against Virginia's flirtatiousness. Dunn rightly emphasises the obsessive depth of each sister's commitment to work -- Suzanne Raitt * Times Literary Review *
[An] intriguing study of the relationship between the two sisters... an investigation into the dynamics of friendship and sibling rivalry, maternal solicitude and mutual need * New York Times *
Dunn takes advantage of the voluminous letters, diaries, family papers and published writings of the Stephen/Woolf/Bell milieu in reconstructing a passionate and competitive sisterhood... [a] detailed portrait of their intimacy * Publishers Weekly *
With sensitivity and imagination, Dunn recreates the fascination, dependencies, competition, complicity, jealousies, the whole range of dynamics expressed in the pathologically close sibling relationship between two beautiful, talented, brilliant, intense, and creative women * Kirkus *
A sensitive and deeply interesting description of a relationship between two remarkable sisters who jointly created the Bloomsbury Group. I found Jane Dunn's account of their distinct but intertwined lives and personalities utterly absorbing * Nigel Nicolson *
An outstanding work, and reading it is a source of real pleasure ... one of the best books on Virginia Woolf to date * LITERARY REVIEW *
Her unlayering of this complex relationship is subtle and far-reaching ...The wealth of the material makes possible some of the brilliant equations to be found in this book * SUNDAY TIMES *
Dunn plunges deep beneath the surface to the complicated emotions and personalities of these two women, illuminating them with great clarity and understanding. * OBSERVER *
Jane Dunn's astute account of their relationship is a revealing pleasure. * INDEPENDENT *



Book Information
ISBN 9781860498510
Author Jane Dunn
Format Paperback
Page Count 512
Imprint Virago Press Ltd
Publisher Little, Brown Book Group
Weight(grams) 304g
Dimensions(mm) 196mm * 128mm * 30mm