Synopses & Reviews
Synopsis
From the celebrated biographer of Nancy Mitford and Evelyn Waugh comes this brilliant first biography of the universally acclaimed English writer, Sybille Bedford. Passionate, liberated, fiercely independent, Bedford was a journalist, novelist and biographer, the author of ten books including a biography of Aldous Huxley and four novels all of which fictionalized her extraordinary life. Though born in Berlin, she grew up in Baden first with her distant, aristocratic father and then with her with her intellectual, narcissistic, morphine-addicted mother and her lover in France. She was a survivor with a German Jewish background of WWI as a child and WWII as an adult and of a life in exile not only in France, but Italy, New York and Los Angeles before finally settling in England.
Bedford was ahead of her time in many ways, with great enthusiasm for life and all its sensual pleasures including friendship with bold faced names in the worlds of literature, food as well as in a high-powered lesbian literary network. Aldous Huxley became a mentor and Martha Gellhorn encouraged her to write her first novel, A Legacy (1956); in 1989 the novel Jigsaw was shortlisted for the Booker. In the 1960s, she wrote for magazine and newspapers, covering nearly 100 trials including those of Auschwitz officials and Jack Ruby's for the murder of Lee Harvey Oswald. Brenda Wineapple called her, "One of the finest stylists of the 20th century, bar none." Selina Hastings has brilliantly captured the fierce intelligence, wit, curiosity, compassion of the woman and the writer in all the richness of her character and achievements.
Synopsis
The first biography of the universally acclaimed British writer, Sybille Bedford, by the celebrated author of books about Nancy Mitford and Evelyn Waugh. Passionate, liberated, fiercely independent, Sybille Bedford was a writer and a journalist, the author of ten books, including a biography of Aldous Huxley, and four novels, all of which fictionalized her extraordinary life. Born in Berlin, she grew up in Baden, first with her distant, aristocratic father, and then in France with her intellectual, narcissistic, morphine-addicted mother and her lover. She was a child with a German Jewish background who survived two world wars and went on to spend her adult life in exile in France, Italy, New York, and Los Angeles, before finally settling in England.
Bedford was ahead of her time in many ways, with great enthusiasm for life and all its sensual pleasures, including friendships with bold faced names in the worlds of literature and food as well as a literary network of high-powered lesbians. Aldous Huxley became a mentor, and Martha Gellhorn encouraged her to write her first novel, A Legacy; in 1989, her novel Jigsaw was shortlisted for the Booker Prize. In the 1960s, she wrote for magazines and newspapers, covering nearly 100 trials, including those of Auschwitz officials accused of Nazi war crimes and Jack Ruby, on trial for the murder of Lee Harvey Oswald. Brenda Wineapple has called Bedford "one of the finest stylists of the 20th century, bar none." In this major biography, Selina Hastings has brilliantly captured the fierce intelligence, wit, curiosity, and compassion of the woman and the writer in all the richness of her character and achievements.