''You cannot find peace by avoiding life'' Virginia Woolf

An intimate portrait of Virginia, the best-known and most influential Bloomsbury author of them all - ''All you need to know about the modernist, feminist icon'' TIME OUT

''A gem'' SUNDAY TIMES

''As a short introduction to Virginia Woolf this deceptively brief book could hardly be bettered and achieves high status instantly as a significant work of reference in its own right'' THE TIMES

Virginia Woolf was undoubtedly one of the literary giants of the twentieth century. She was a central figure in the Bloomsbury Group, and her writings were works of astonishing originality.

Nigel Nicolson is the son of Vita Sackville-West, who was Virginia Woolf's most intimate friend, and for a short time her lover. He spent many days in her company and he has threaded his recollections of her throughout this unique narrative of her life.