A chance discovery at a country house revealed the three funny – sometimes surreal – interlinked tales, written almost a decade before Woolf’s first book was published A trio of early stories by Virginia Woolf which together form a spoof biography of a family friend have been rediscovered and are set to be published next month. The Life of Violet was inspired by Mary Violet Dickinson, who befriended the English writer when she was 20 and would go on to read many of her early writings, introduce her to one of her first editors and a wide circle of aristocratic friends, and look after her following a breakdown in 1904. “Do you know it seems to me – well don’t you think Violet – it would be very nice ---- ” “To have a cottage of one’s own? Yes, my good woman,” cried Violet. Quotes used with permission of the Society of Authors as the Literary Representative of the Estate of Virginia Woolf Continue reading...

A poem by Wendell Berry.