Frances Partridge: The Biography [Hardcover]

Anne Chisholm (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 9, 2009

Frances Partridge was one of the great British diarists of the 20th century. She was born in 1900, the daughter of a progressive mother and architect father whose friends included Henry James and Arthur Conan Doyle. After studying Moral Sciences and English at Cambridge, Frances worked in Francis Birrell and Bunny Garnett's bookshop in London. She soon became part of the Bloomsbury group encountering Virginia Woolf, Lytton Strachey, the Bells, Roger Fry, Maynard Keynes, Dora Carrington and Ralph Partridge. She and Ralph fell in love and married in 1933. During the Second World War they were committed pacifists and opened their house, Ham Spray, to numerous waifs and strays of war. After it was over they enjoyed the happiest times of their lives together, entertaining friends such as E.M. Forster, Robert Kee, and Duncan Grant. Frances' life changed abruptly with two sudden and unexpected deaths. Ralph had a heart attack in 1960 and three years later their only son, Burgo, died aged 28 from a brain hemorrhage. However, she survived—indeed, prospered—for another four decades, showing an astonishing appetite for life. Her diaries chronicle her life from the 1930s onwards. Their publication brought her recognition and acclaim, and earned her the right to be seen not as a minor character on the Bloomsbury stage but standing at the center of her own.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Anne Chisholm's book promises to be the best kind of biography - intimate and particular, but with a watchful eye on the larger picture" -- Kathryn Hughes THE GUARDIAN "an outstanding biography, intelligent, sympathetic and beautifully written" -- Selina Hastings STANDPOINT "an impressively sure-footed biography and the necessary complement to the published diaries" -- Frances Spalding LITERARY REVIEW Book of the Week: "Anne Chisholm could not have presented her life better" -- David Sexton EVENING STANDARD "Chisholm triumphantly brings Ralph to life on the page, so that we appreciate why the man was so loved by Frances, by Lytton and, briefly, by Carrington" -- Paul Levy THE OBSERVER "It is Anne Chisholm's remarkable achievement to reveal her fully as the extraordinarily strong and attractive person that she was." -- Diana Athill THE GUARDIAN "Anne Chisholm's admiration and even love for her subject infuses but does not distort this deft and touching biography" -- Caroline Moore SUNDAY TELEGRAPH "Anne Chisholm has produced a worthy tribute to the woman often dubbed 'the last survivor of Bloomsbury'". -- Mark Bostridge INDEPENDENT ON SUNDAY "The book I most enjoyed reading last week was Anne Chisholm's forthcoming biography of the Bloomsbury diarist Frances Partridge" -- D J Taylor INDEPENDENT ON SUNDAY "This is an absorbing, vivid and elegant account of a life concerned as much with love and friendship as the bold experiments of Bloomsbury" -- Matthew Dennison DAILY TELEGRAPH "Anne Chisholm could not have presented her better" -- David Sexton THE SCOTSMAN "Sympathetic, psychologically astute and notable well-written" -- D J Taylor THE INDEPENDENT "As well as the central character, she has managed to give a remarkable overview of Old Bloomsbury" -- John Saumarez Smith COUNTRY LIFE "We do genuinely want to follow her right through to the end of her long life, and end up grateful for knowing her so well" -- Diana Athill THE BROWN BOOK, LMH COLLEGE, OXFORD

About the Author

Anne Chisholm is the author of Faces of Hiroshima and co-author of Beaverbrook: A Life.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 416 pages
• Publisher: Orion Publishing (April 9, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0297646737
• ISBN-13: 978-0297646730
• Product Dimensions: 1.5 x 6.2 x 9.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.7 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,576,721 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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