cover image An Immodest Violet: The Life of Violet Hunt

An Immodest Violet: The Life of Violet Hunt

Joan Hardwick. A. Deutsch, $24.95 (205pp) ISBN 978-0-233-98639-5

Canadian writer Hardwick debuts with this book about a little-remembered British author-feminist. ``Immodest Violet'' Hunt (1866-1942) grew up among the eminent artistic-literary society of family friends: John Ruskin, Oscar Wilde et al. Her father was the noted pre-Raphael painter Alfred William Hunt; her mother, Margaret Hunt, was a reputable novelist. Violet herself wrote two impressive books, an autobiography, I Have This to Say , and a biography, Wife of Rossetti, and less memorable works of fiction. Extremely active sexually, she contracted syphilis from a partner who preceded Ford Maddox Ford, who deserted her after their long affair made them notorious. Hardwick reports on Ford's accomplishments and flaws almost as extensively as on Hunt in a book that betrays the beginner, with loose organization and too-fervent partisanship toward its heroine. Yet the biography succeeds for it provides insights into the era. Photos. (Dec.)