Sackville-West, the daughter of the third Baron of Sackville, was educated privately. She started writing poetry at the age of eleven and was always called Vita rather than Victoria. In 1909, she produced her first play, Chatterton, A Drama in Three Acts. In 1913, she married Harold Nicolson, a diplomat and someone who shared her bisexual proclivities. In 1923, she met Virginia Woolf and the two became lovers. It is assumed that Sackville-West was the model for Orlando in Woolf's work of the same name. Sackville-West's book Poems of West and East appeared in 1917 and received critical praise. She had a number of best-sellers during the 1930's including The Edwardians (1930), All Passion Spent (1931) and Family History (1932). An avid and knowledgeable gardener, she was rewarded by the Royal Horticultural Society in 1955. Her other works include The Heir (1922), Challenge (1923), Passenger to Tehran (1926), Twelve Days (1928), Sissinghurst (1931), Pepita (1937), Grand Canyon (1942), The Garden (1946), The Easter Party (1953), A Joy of Gardening (1958) and No Signposts in the Sea (1960). |
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