Vita's Other World: 2a Gardening Biography of Vita Sackville-West

Many consider Sissinghurst Castle in Kent the best English garden of this century. The author delves into the past to trace the development of its passionate gardener. Vita Sackville-West grew up at Knole, one of Britain's great country houses, in a secure and privileged world. A poet and novelist, she had a strong affinity for places. Brown, who wrote Gardens of a Golden Afternoon, maintains that a good garden is created from deeply rooted memories and beliefs; she applies that thesis to Sackville-West's travels and experiences. There was the first garden at Long Barn, residence in Persia, the transformation of ruins and a barnyard into Sissinghurst and, ultimately recognition for her achievements as a serious gardener and garden columnist (in the Observer. Brown intersperses her narrative with quotations from Sackville-West's poetry and letters. Both active and armchair gardeners will be captivated. Illustrations. (February)