A review by mazza57
All Passion Spent by Vita Sackville-West

4.0

Lady Slane is released from a lifetime of feeling trapped in conventional society, whilst always wishing she could have been an artist of importance, by the death of her husband. After the funeral she makes the decision to isolate herself (and her French ladies maid) in a rented house in Hampshire. She bans her grandchildren and great grandchildren from visiting, her children - mainly egotistic, self centred, chips of Lord Slade's block make no real effort to keep in touch. Lady Slade establishes friendships with her landlord, her builder and an old acquaintance. This is a beautifully written classic novel, short but powerfully written. The only problem is that all the Maid's dialogue is written in French the idea of what she is saying can in the main be interpreted but some remains unknown.