The New York Times Book Review - Claire Jarvis
…Gill's chatty, often conspiratorial tone helps mitigate some of the anguished hand-wringing that often accompanies discussions of Woolf's life. After all, she isn't only one of literature's most famous suicides; she also suffered extreme mental illness, horrible, and early, familial loss; her half brothers' incestuous advances; and deep sexual and literary frustration. Gill brings to this potentially grim picture an ear for the playful undercurrent—a sense of the world's splendid possibility—that also ran through Woolf's life, countering much of the darkness. While she does not downplay the writer's difficulties, Gill's portrait shows Woolf's character to have been complicated not just by difficulty but by pleasure, too.
Publishers Weekly
09/16/2019
In this often overly speculative book, Gill (We Too, Nightingales) places Virgina Woolf within the context of the women in her life and, particularly, in her family. Gill traces Woolf’s connection to imperial India—her mother, Julia Jackson Stephen, was born there—and to “Pattledom,” a legendary artistic and literary salon of the 1850s founded by her great-aunts, including pioneering photographer Julia Margaret Cameron. From there Gill moves to the deeply dysfunctional family environment in which Woolf grew up, and to the Bloomsbury set with which she became associated. Gill’s writing is lively, pinpointing the amusing, sometimes salacious, and ultimately damaging aspects of Woolf’s multiple worlds. She does climb out on some speculative limbs. Yes, as Gill speculates, the troubles of Woolf’s mentally challenged half-sister, Laura, might have been exacerbated by incestuous advances from their half-brother, George—with whom Woolf had her own sexual encounter—but, even as Gill notes, there is no evidence for this. Similarly, Gill suggests that the family preserved no images of Woolf’s great-great-grandmother, Thérèse Josephe Blin de Grincourt, because of her reportedly Bengali ancestry. Woolf fans will be entertained, but left feeling, uneasily, that this rollicking story perhaps contains an overflow of conjecture and opinion, and too few hard facts. (Dec.)
From the Publisher
Companionable and piquant, Gillian Gill’s bold reading of the lives of Virginia Woolf’s female exemplars yields a kaleidoscopic view of her subject, whirling across the centuries and enabling Woolf to be seen from new and unexpected angles. The most refreshing take on Bloomsbury in many years.”—Megan Marshall, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Margaret Fuller: A New American Life. "Gillian Gill has written a bold, incisive book—vividly conceived, impeccably researched, always questioning and ever original. By shedding light upon the gutsy, powerful women who shaped Virginia Woolf’s life and work, Gill makes a compelling argument about legacy, inheritance, and our female forebears’ enduring influence." —Katharine Smyth, author of All the Lives We Ever Lived: Seeking Solace in Virginia Woolf “A delicious—and disturbing—account of a time when men made all the rules, and a few unusual and talented women in Virginia Woolf’s orbit found ways to subvert them. Gillian Gill weaves this story of Virginia Woolf’s world in her own irresistible style—irreverent, unconstrained, and deeply informed. Gill has a voice all her own, uniquely suited to recreating the no-holds-barred climate of Bloomsbury.”—Susan Quinn, author of Eleanor and Hick: The Love Affair That Shaped a First Lady "An engaging, fully persuasive account of the women who stirred Virginia Woolf’s imagination. Gillian Gill’s broad-minded reading of Woolf’s relations with her womenfolk recontextualizes the legends of Bloomsbury."—Carolyn Burke, author of Foursome: Alfred Stieglitz, Georgia O’Keefe, Paul Strand, Rebecca Salsbury "Gill’s writing is lively, pinpointing the amusing, sometimes salacious, and ultimately damaging aspects of Woolf’s multiple worlds...Woolf fans will be entertained."—Publishers Weekly "This volume will be welcomed by readers and students curious about the cultural aspects of Woolf’s development as a writer."—Library Journal —
JANUARY 2020 - AudioFile
Feminist writer Virginia Woolf is now a household name, but she fought hard for that distinction. Narrator Nicola Barber explains the development of this creative rebel in a lush, feminine tone. Her vocal persona appropriately creates the aura of a well-to-do, well-educated, young woman. Barber takes us gently through Woolf’s privileged childhood in a blended family and then presents the various historical roadblocks to women's formal education. She narrates with feeling the contradictions and frustrations of Woolf's journey to becoming a writer. Fans of her work will sink into this listening experience as a gentle reintroduction to the writer's life. Barber makes the scattered details of the entire family engaging for the listener. M.R. © AudioFile 2020, Portland, Maine
JANUARY 2020 - AudioFile
Feminist writer Virginia Woolf is now a household name, but she fought hard for that distinction. Narrator Nicola Barber explains the development of this creative rebel in a lush, feminine tone. Her vocal persona appropriately creates the aura of a well-to-do, well-educated, young woman. Barber takes us gently through Woolf’s privileged childhood in a blended family and then presents the various historical roadblocks to women's formal education. She narrates with feeling the contradictions and frustrations of Woolf's journey to becoming a writer. Fans of her work will sink into this listening experience as a gentle reintroduction to the writer's life. Barber makes the scattered details of the entire family engaging for the listener. M.R. © AudioFile 2020, Portland, Maine
