Bloomsbury Revisited.

Well, sort of.   My Book Club met today to discuss “Singled Out” by Virginia Nicholson.   Virginia is the daughter of Artist  and teacher Quentin Bell who is the son of Vanessa Bell (one of my artistic heroes:-)) Vanessa Bell is the sister of Virginia Woolf for whom Virginia Nicholson is named.   The first book that Virginia Nicholson wrote is the book about Charleston  (the farmhouse in E. Sussex where Vanessa lived with husband Clive and lover Duncan Grant….)which she wrote with her father when he was dying, knowing she would finish it. (1997)   She had a late start but went on to write “Among the The Bohemians”, “Singled Out”, (2008) about how 2 million British women survived without men after the first World War, then “Millions like Us”, about the generation of the 30s and 40s and next month a new book will be published “Perfect Wives in Ideal Homes”, the story of women in the 50s.   Quentin and Ann Olivier Bell had 2 other children,  (pictured on the other book) Julian who is a painter, and now an author as well with a book reviewed in the Feb 5 NY Review of Books, a biography of Van Gogh.  Another daughter Cressida, is a fabric artist —I bought this scarf at Charleston in the 80s.   So there’s something from all 3 siblings here in this hastily put together array.  

The discussion was lively — the stories in the book are heartwarming - some of the interviews (best part for me) were with very old women who had had amazing careers after having to fend for themselves after the war, egyptologist, stock broker, maritime engineer, electrical engineer…business startups - my favorite “Universal Aunts” ...  Feminism started in Britain then…  We did think that the structure of the book lacked cohesiveness and it could have been shorter !  :-)   But we agreed it was a good read, bringing up again the whole question of Women’s role in Society today —I wonder if Virginia is going to continue writing about decades of women.  This group could write the one from the 60s!  

There is so much talk before we get to the book...lunch of course, and then to hear from 3 who have just returned from the Yucatan and Columbia, Singapore and Vietnam, and Ethiopia.... always fascinating stories..... it's kinda overwhelming...for me...


And tonight we’re off to the Seattle Art Museum opening of Indigenous Beauty - American Native Tribes….whew….