Sunflower (Virago Modern Classics Ser. #606)

By: Rebecca West

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Synopsis: A beautiful actress of the 1920s faces painful decisions about her lovers and her future in Rebecca West&’s posthumously published semi-autobiographical novel Star of the stage, Sunflower has everything but the attention she craves from her long-time—and married—lover, Lord Essington, a brilliant and intense man occupied with more intellectual thoughts. Eager for a more rewarding experience, Sunflower must decide whether another &“great man,&” the Australian Francis Pitt, will offer a more traditional relationship and happiness. Written during West&’s own psychoanalysis and never finished, Sunflower ponders topics of the power struggle between the sexes, and a woman&’s freedom to determine her romantic destiny. Drawn heavily from West&’s own relationships with H.G. Wells and Lord Beaverbrook, this roman à clef gives a glimpse of the author&’s own struggle to find a satisfying relationship.