Vanessa and Her Sister

Starred review from October 20, 2014
Parmar’s excellent sophomore effort (after Exit the Actress) contends mostly with the complicated relationship between the four Stephen siblings (including Vanessa, later known as Vanessa Bell, the painter, and Virginia, later known as Virginia Woolf). After a happy upbringing, the sisters are separated in their 20s by the death of their brother, Thoby, and Vanessa’s marriage to Clive Bell, Thoby’s college pal. Parmar does a stellar job conveying Virginia’s complicated, almost incestuous feelings for Vanessa, which are exacerbated by Virginia’s manic depression and need to be the center of attention. Distracted by the birth of her first child, Vanessa all but ignores Clive, who falls prey to Virginia’s efforts to insinuate herself into the marriage. Vanessa is torn by her love for her sister and an understanding of how her illness colors everything, as well as her own desire to have a life of her own. The author also deftly brings to life the various artists and writers who formed the nascent Bloomsbury group, heralding the arrival of Leonard Woolf—who eventually comes home to England and saves Virginia from spinsterhood. Structured primarily as Vanessa’s diary, with fictional letters from characters like Woolf and the journalist Lytton Strachey included, Parmar’s narrative is riveting and successfully takes on the task of turning larger-than-life figures into real people. Readers who aren’t familiar with the Bloomsbury group might be overwhelmed at first by the sheer number of characters in the book, but Parmar weaves their stories together so effortlessly that nothing seems out of place.

Starred review from October 1, 2014
A devoted, emotionally intense portrait of the Bloomsbury group focuses in particular on sisters Vanessa Bell and Virginia Woolf, whose complicated relationship is tested to the breaking point by their competing affections for two men. Plunging into her story-the lives, love affairs, intellectual debates, arguments and achievements of an extensive, creative group of English friends-Parmar (Exit the Actress, 2011) allows the background facts about her real-life characters to emerge as needed. The curious, comfortably middle-class menage of the four orphaned Stephen siblings-Adrian, Thoby, Vanessa and Virginia-living together in a large house in central London in the early 20th century is the foundation of the book. It's in this house that Lytton Strachey, Clive Bell, Maynard Keynes, E.M. Forster and many others congregate for bohemian evenings. Bell falls in love with Vanessa; Strachey is a friend of Leonard Woolf, who will eventually return from the Colonies to marry Virginia. Narrated by Vanessa in diary format, punctuated, as if in a scrapbook, by letters, tickets, bills and postcards, this slice of fictional biography spans the years 1905-12, in particular the triangle that forms among Clive, Vanessa and her sister after the birth of the first Bell child. Vanessa, the artist, emerges as "an ocean of majestic calm," almost infinitely tolerant of her sister, the writer, whose capricious, jealous nature, though tempered by intellectual brilliance and immense charm, tips over at times into madness and suicidal thoughts. This fictional Virginia is far less appealing than her sister, whose nuanced account of her shifting feelings for Clive and eventual love for another invites sympathy. Leonard Woolf's arrival marks the beginning of the next episode in the group's extraordinarily intertwined history.Not exactly uncharted territory, but Parmar enters it with passion and precision, delivering a sensitive, superior soap opera of celebrated lives.

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November 1, 2014

Parmar's (Exit the Actress) novel unfolds the story of Vanessa Stephens, her troubled sister Virginia (Woolf), and the circle of writers and artists known as the Bloomsbury Group through Vanessa's diary entries, letters, and telegrams. Indicative of the women's relationship, the story begins with a thank-you note and invitation dated 1912 from Virginia to her beloved sister and comes full circle with a response three days later from Vanessa returning familial love yet emphasizing their estrangement. In between, their lives revolve around their homes in London's Bloomsbury section, which quickly becomes the gathering place for a thriving, incestuous artistic and literary community. Parmar focuses on the loving, complicated, and competitive relationship between Vanessa and Virginia. Both gifted artists, the siblings differ in their interpersonal connections. Vanessa is courted by and eventually marries Clive Bell, while Virginia, adored and admired by men and women alike, is "rapidly heading toward spinsterhood." Virginia's jealousy of Clive and Vanessa's union eventually sabotages both the couple's marriage and her bond with Vanessa. VERDICT The "Cast of Characters" listing is very helpful for readers, owing to the novel's overly elaborate structure and at times confusing naming of characters (varying use of pet names, middle names, last names, and first names). The book's strength lies in the well-written relationship between Vanessa and Virginia, sure to appeal to fans of Michael Cunningham's The Hours. [Library marketing.]--Susan Santa, Syosset P.L., NY

Copyright 2014 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

December 15, 2014
In her second historical novel, Parmar (Exit the Actress, 2011) portrays Vanessa Bell, Virginia Woolf, Lytton Strachey, Clive Bell, and Leonard Woolf and, through a reenvisioning of the Bloomsbury group's letters, postcards, and telegrams, along with the invention of Vanessa's diary, offers access to their fascinating lives during a snippet of time: 190511. Parmar's intimate viewpoint reveals the inspired, contentious, loving, and envious aspects of their relationships while also highlighting their daring, often risqu' resistance to lingering Victorian values. At the center, sisters Vanessa and Virginia are just beginning to discover themselves as women and artists, and Parmar shines brightest when exploring Vanessa's internal landscape. There is a good-versus-bad-sister story here, but the narrative is well developed enough to evoke sympathy for each sister's struggle to handle Virginia's mental illness as it shifts the ground beneath their feet. Parmar's novel sparkles, intrigues, and attracts, just as the Stephen sisters must have done in their time. It should inspired readers to revisit the works of the Bloomsbury crowd in a new light, especially Virginia Woolf's.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2014, American Library Association.)

March 23, 2015
Before becoming the celebrated writer Virginia Woolf, young Virginia Stephens lived with her sister, Vanessa, and her brothers in the Bloomsbury neighborhood of London, where they surrounded themselves with other artists and intellectuals. Told in diary entries and letters, this novel captures that period, characterized by emotional upheavals and family crises as well as intellectual and artistic conversations. Emilia Fox is perfect in the role of Vanessa, whose point of view dominates the story. Fox captures Vanessa’s feelings of responsibility and exasperation toward her sister, her mixed feelings about her suitor Clive Bell, and her earnest desire to be a serious artist. Julian Rhind-Tutt is likewise excellent as family friend Lytton Strachey: flamboyantly gay, full of lively gossip, prone to self-deprecating humor, and passionately longing for a man he cannot have. Daniel Pirre and Anthony Calf both offer serviceable, straightforward narrations in their respective roles as Leonard Woolf and Roger Fry. The one misstep is Clare Corbett, who is cast as Virginia, the baby of the family and described as brilliant and witty, but also childish, immature, wild, reckless, selfish, prone to fits of hysteria, and actual madness. In narrating Virginia’s chapters, Corbett’s voice is deeper than the voice of other female characters, with a crackly quality and an overly posh accent, all of which make her sound like a middle-aged woman, not the childish 20-something girl she is supposed to be. The effect is jarring. However, only a handful of chapters are told from Virginia’s point of view, so it does not detract too much from the rest of the narration, which is excellent. A Ballantine hardcover.