All Passion Spent is a joyous, funny, and moving book.
Lady Deborah Slane was always subordinate to her statesman
husband, a former UK prime minister, and when he dies, her
children expect to decide her future. But 88-year-old Lady Slane
demonstrates a new assertiveness, renting a house in then-sleepy
Hampstead. Ruminating on her life, Lady Slane feels wistful about
the artistic aspirations she set aside to become a wife and
mother. Although she doesn’t take up painting again, she makes new
friends who expect nothing of her. Happily independent and
unencumbered, doing just as she pleases, Lady Slane is testimony
that a person can discover her true self at any age.
Author Vita Sackville-West was a diplomat’s wife, but unlike her
creation, she stayed home to pursue her writing career rather than
accompany her husband abroad. She was a friend and lover of
Virginia Woolf, who based the protagonist of Orlando on
her.
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