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sophronisba's review
3.0
Interesting in parts, but strangely organized and told in a way that makes it very easy to lose track of who's who. Well-written, of course.
alisonb13's review
4.0
This book left me absolutely elated. I loved the way it wended its way from a Rodin bust of the mistress of an obscure aristocrat I had never heard of to the lonely death of his increasingly eccentric and unpleasant better known daughter Violet Trefusis. I am in awe of the details unearthed about the lives they lead, the letters they wrote, what people thought of them and the very many interesting people they met and the sometimes breathtaking way these lives intersected. Fascinating, and humane. It reads less like a scholarly study and more like a memoir of friends. Holroyd gives us a glimpse of these women who were at the edge of the spotlight and it is a warm and kind view but not it is a warts and all view. I was delighted to have met them, sad that they died, aghast at his comment it was his last book and inspired to hunt down at least some of Violet Trefusis's books and reread Virginia Woolf's Orlando. A gem!
lsantoski's review
3.0
Make no mistake: Michael Holroyd is a very good writer and biographer, and while reading this book I was continually impressed by the research that must have gone into writing it. However, I felt the book as a whole was not cohesive. It focused on people who had been "united" by the Villa Cimbrone in some way, but the actual villa played only a minor role in the book (most of it discussed other aspects of the figures' lives), so there was not enough to link each person. Many of the individual stories were very interesting, but I wished the book had had a clearer trajectory.
featherbooks's review
3.0
[b:A Book of Secrets: Illegitimate Daughters, Absent Fathers|10283661|A Book of Secrets Illegitimate Daughters, Absent Fathers|Michael Holroyd|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1317067362s/10283661.jpg|14620897] was a bit of a slog for me. While the characters were interesting, the information provided seemed too thin to merit a book. The author based it on a villa in the South of Italy but then we moved to England, to France, to Vita & Violet, to an Italian friend, disparate characters, places, and the book's focus and especially its passion suffered.
"With his oblique anecdotes about Salman Rushdie, and a footnoted reference to one of his wife Margaret Drabble’s novels, Holroyd, too, sometimes gives us his literary-social milieu instead of real emotional involvement" Laura Marsh writes in the online New Review piece below http://www.tnr.com/book/review/michael-holroyd-book-secrets and perhaps that is what is missing from the book. I could not connect.
"With his oblique anecdotes about Salman Rushdie, and a footnoted reference to one of his wife Margaret Drabble’s novels, Holroyd, too, sometimes gives us his literary-social milieu instead of real emotional involvement" Laura Marsh writes in the online New Review piece below http://www.tnr.com/book/review/michael-holroyd-book-secrets and perhaps that is what is missing from the book. I could not connect.
fitzgene's review
5.0
Having long been a fan of Violet Trefusis, I enjoyed the author's passion for his subject. Of particular interest were the insights and details provided of the Violet-Vita story which are not commonly known. I particularly enjoyed the family trees at the end of the book (which I often referred to while reading the book) and the reading list.
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