Media Reviews
Radiantly original ... Irrepressible, with charm and brio to spare, Vanessa and Her Sister boldly invites us to that moment in history when famous minds sparked and collided, shaping the terrain of art and letters ... Prepare to be dazzled * Paula McLain, author of The Paris Wife *
Priya Parmar is a powerful new voice in historical fiction. This novel explores the anguished relationship between the Stephen sisters and provides a new view of the artistic, sensual Bloomsbury world, placing Vanessa Bell at the heart of the story * Philippa Gregory *
Vanessa and Her Sister is the novel I didn't know I was waiting for and it is quite simply, astonishing ... Virginia's story is the one most often told, but it is Vanessa - the painter, observer, the woman struggling to balance her marriage and her art under the near-constant gimlet gaze of a younger sister willing to tip that balance - whose story this is. It is beautiful, wise and deft as a stroke upon the canvas * Sarah Blake, author of The Postmistress *
I loved this brilliant depiction of the true price of genius. Vanessa Bell glows at the heart of the Bloomsbury Group as she protects her sister, Virginia, even at the expense of her own happiness. Parmar's novel shines a bright light into the empty spaces between the lines of history * Helen Simonson, author of Major Pettigrew's Last Stand *
Vanessa and her Sister is an account of my grandmother's early life, told with faith, elegance and an almost uncanny insight into the subject. But this is also an absorbing work of fiction - and Priya Parmar has made Vanessa's story her own * Virginia Nicholson, author and granddaughter of Vanessa Bell *
With sparkling wit and insight, Priya Parmar sets us down into the legendary Bloomsbury household of the Stephen siblings, where sisters Vanessa and Virginia vie for love and primacy amidst a collection of eccentric guests ... Vanessa and Her Sister kidnapped me for a couple of days. I couldn't put it down * Nancy Horan, author of Loving Frank and Under the Wide and Starry Sky *
A devoted, emotionally intense portrait of the Bloomsbury group * Kirkus *
It is billed as fiction, but one of the many joys of Priyar Parmar's Vanessa and Her Sister is that this brilliant epistolary novel reads as if this is a genuine and revelatory new take on Bloomsbury. The voice of Vanessa Bell rings true * Ion Trewin, Literary Director, Booker Prize Foundation *
Inventive, meticulously researched ... The anchor and soul of the book is Vanessa's diary ... The Bloomsbury Group were famous for their weekly salons, which were fuelled by intellectual discourse, banter and booze; in Parmar's story, you can almost hear the glasses tinkling * Good Housekeeping (US) *
In her gossipy, entertaining historical novel about the British bohemians, Priya Parma conjures a devastating fictional portrait of one of those triangles ... Based in fact but written with imaginative panache * USA Today *
Rarely do you encounter a woman who commands as much admiration as does the painter Vanessa Bell in Priya Parmar's multilayered, subtly shaded novel ... Parmar gives truth and definition to the character of a woman whose nature was as elusive as her influence was profound. She has caught the phantom * New York Times Book Review *
In this delightful novel, Parmar reimagines the brilliant, fragile writer and her turn-of-the-century bohemian friends ... You'll be spellbound * People *
You'll get lost in the worlds of Vanessa Bell and her sister, Virginia Woolf, as they struggle to make it as a painter and an author, respectively, in prewar London - but more so than art, this is a story of sisterhood * Glamour.com *
Extensively researched ... In writing about the Stephens pre-fame, Parmar has captured a thrilling, terrifying feeling of infinite possibility, reimagining an intimate time * Elle *
A shimmering read that trips through their vivacious Bloomsbury Group gatherings in full swing in the post-Victorian, post-laced-up world * Sainsbury's Magazine *
Brings to life the stormy relationship between two siblings ... Brilliant * Good Housekeeping Hot Reads *
Somewhere between Downton Abbey and Keeping Up With the Kardashians, this provides enough scandal and family drama to keep the pages turning * Harper's Bazaar *
An absorbing and evocative read * Woman & Home *
A richly compelling and extraordinarily sympathetic portrait ... Works astonishingly well, each voice is real and fully realised, but Vanessa's is resplendent ... A fresh perspective on a story that's already become legend * Independent *
A remarkable achievement ... She has had the blessing of Vanessa Bell's granddaughter and daughter-in-law, and her research has been meticulous. But it's the central portrait of Vanessa's emotional life and her journey to a more disillusioned, if pragmatic, self-knowledge, that makes this novel, with its familiar setting, so fresh and compelling * Observer *
Given the pages and pages that Bloomsbury Group members wrote about their lives and loves, it seems almost de trop to add to them, yet Parmar has done so skilfully * Sunday Times *
Her imagined diaries of Vanessa Bell, from 1905 to 1911, are a triumph from first to last. She gets the authorial voice spot-on and skewers Virginia Woolf, Vanessa's sister, in all her ridiculous hauteur * Mail on Sunday *
It's not often that you wish a book wouldn't end, but Priya Parmar's second novel about the relationship between the artist Vanessa Bell and her sister, Virginia Woolf, is so deliciously gossipy (while occasionally wonderfully prurient), and almost too beautifully written, to stop at 339 pages ... Parmar brings the players to life in a way that appeals to both the heart and the head * Independent on Sunday *
Immerse yourself in this joyously imagined novel ... Superbly controlled and structured, the novel contains a central irony: `Vanessa' writes like an angel. Bravo * Daily Mail *
Compellingly involving, it captures with a light touch the hothouse emotionalism of Bloomsbury's tangled relationships ... Overwhelmingly, however, this is pitch perfect: sensitively handled, unsensational and persuasive * Country Life *
You don't need a deep knowledge of the Bloomsbury group to appreciate this novel but, if you're a hardcore Bloomsbury addict (like me), it's one of the essential reads of the year ... It's biography as fiction, imagined with almost supernatural brilliance. Bliss * The Times *
The Bloomsbury appeal continues ... Captivating from beginning to end, but Virginia Woolf fans be warned - you might not like what you read * Vogue *
An absorbing story, throbbing with the imagined rage and resentment strict biographers must leave out * Guardian *
I romped through this novel and longed for more ... Edwardian London, from Fortnum's Dundee cake to the first post-impressionist exhibition, comes to life. Roll on a sequel * Intelligent Life *
A perfect balance of granite and rainbow * Frances Wilson, Times Literary Supplement, Books of the Year 2015 *
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