The work of exciting young newcomer Priya Parmar, Vanessa and Her Sister exquisitely captures the champagne-heady days of prewar London and the extraordinary lives of sisters Vanessa Bell and Virginia Woolf. As tragedy and betrayal threaten to destroy the family, Vanessa must decide if it is finally time to protect her own happiness above all else. Without it, she careens toward self-destruction and madness. Eerily possessive, charismatic, manipulative, and brilliant, Virginia has always lived in the shelter of Vanessa's constant attention and encouragement. But the landscape shifts when Vanessa unexpectedly falls in love and her sister feels dangerously abandoned.

Together, this sparkling coterie of artists and intellectuals throw away convention and embrace the wild freedom of being young, single bohemians in London. Leonard Woolf is still a civil servant in Ceylon, and John Maynard Keynes is looking for a job. Forster has finished his first novel but does not like the title. Lytton Strachey has not published anything. Virginia Woolf's book review has just been turned down by The Times. Each member of the group will go on to earn fame and success, but so far Vanessa Bell has never sold a painting. And at the center of this charmed circle are the devoted, gifted sisters: Vanessa, the painter, and Virginia, the writer. There they bring together a glittering circle of bright, outrageous artistic friends who will grow into legend and come to be known as the Bloomsbury Group. Vanessa, Virginia, Thoby, and Adrian are leaving behind their childhood home and taking a house in the leafy heart of avant-garde Bloomsbury. London, 1905: The city is alight with change, and the Stephen siblings are at the forefront. 'For fans of The Paris Wife and Loving Frank comes a captivating novel that offers an intimate glimpse into the lives of Vanessa Bell, her sister Virginia Woolf, and the controversial and popular circle of intellectuals known as the Bloomsbury Group.

Vanessa and Her Sister by Priya Parmar