All Passion Spent (VMC)

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Gosheron, the contractor, who looked after the repairs and was highly respected, in spite of his always wearing his hat in the house. While the annoying and largely unsympathetic children (all in their sixties) bicker over the estate and what to do with their mother, Lady Slane decides that for once in her life she will do what she wants to do. She had forgotten him, simply another of the many faces that passed before her during her years with Henry.

The novel should be better known than it is, both for the quality of the writing and for the subject matter that celebrates old age from a woman’s point of view.In doing so and in the relationship between FitzGeorge and other characters Lady Slane finds the strength to make decisions that truly reflect her character and infuriate some of the rather smug entitled members of her family. All Passion Spent by Vita Sackville-West, a 1931 novel, was one of this British author’s most popular works. Maybe sticking to our decisions to live the gentle, quiet lives we dream of, instead of jumping through hoops, is really a bold leap out of the comfort zone of public approval. Your children, your husband, your splendour, were nothing but obstacles that kept you from yourself.

The early scene where her children discuss their mother and plan her future reminded me a little about the King Lear daughters deciding how their father will spend so many months with each of them. Most readers would probably agree that the renewal of Lady Slane's friendship with Colonel FitzGeorge is one of the book's highlights, even though she barely remembered their mutual past to start with.A neglected housewife makes an unexpected friend at a nursing home, where she hears a true tale about an independent woman in 1920s Alabama, who ran the town diner, served food to people of color and protected her sister-in-law from an abusive spouse. The nature of the story is such that it requires a deft touch to handle delicate situations, and Miss Sackville-West has proven herself equal to the task.

It’s true that as the story is being told, Lady Slane enjoys a brief interlude of contentment, free from intruders and family disturbance. I’m sure there are many widowed elderly ladies whose families think they know best and ride roughshod over their mother’s own wishes. Heart failure,” they said sagaciously, though they were actually quoting from the papers; and then added with a sigh, “Well, another old landmark gone. For a short while we view this scene through the eyes of Edith, the youngest, who may have been an interesting character in her own right, but this is almost the last we see of her.Told through the eyes of an octogenarian recently emancipated by widowhood as she delves into her bittersweet memories. Lady Slane, essentially a free spirit but thwarted by her marriage in her ambitions to become a painter, has spent her life devoted to her husband's career and the upbringing of her six children, who, elderly themselves, think of her as unpractical and just too old to look after herself. Sackville-West redefines heroism in terms of an elderly woman asserting herself and rising to the challenge of, finally, defining herself apart from the others who have claimed her identity. I can’t help adding that Sackville-West had a passionate affair with another married woman and the two husbands felt obliged to hire a light plane to pursue them to France. If there was one sour note in all of this – and there are several, but this is the main one, to my mind – it was the thoughtless assumption by Lady Slane of Genoux’s infinite capacity for servitude; there is a brief moment of realization and appreciation, but after seventy years together, the servant-mistress position is still firmly in place, with selfishness a prominent quality in Lady Slane’s refusal to fully appreciate Genoux’s parallel existence and to consider her needs and her long-denied desires, whatever those may be.

And anyway I’m an autodidact about nearly everything to do with literature, so am perfectly happy to look stuff up. In 1913 she married diplomat and politician Harold Nicholson, though both continued to take (same-sex) lovers. I bought rather a lot of them in the 1980s, and they were often on my want-lists, but I haven’t bought many lately. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from Karen Heenan-Davies and/or BookTalk and Booker Talk is strictly prohibited. This is an extraordinary novel about a woman in her 80s in the early 20th century who has been recently widowed.The strife and pride and living were stripped away and she was able to look at her own desires squarely in the face.