Matthew Dennison creates a revealing portrait of the brave and charismatic Vita, in the first biography of her to be written for thirty years. Vita Sackville-West was a woman who defied categorization. She was the dispossessed girl whose lonely childhood at Knole inspired enduring feats of imagination, the celebrated author and poet, the adored and affectionate wife whose marriage included passionate homosexual affairs (most famously with Virginia Woolf ), and the recluse who found in nature and her garden at Sissinghurst Castle solace from the contradictions of her extraordinary life. In this dazzling new biography, Matthew Dennison traces these complexities, depicting a prolific, radical, sensitive and uncompromising figure in all her depth. The first biography of Vita in the thirty years, 'Behind the Mask has been feted for its re-examination of this multi-talented woman who, in her relationships, her life and her writing, consistently confronted both her own her demons and society's double standards.
