PORTRAIT OF A MARRIAGE

Vita Sackville-West took many lovers. Some were men, others women, Virginia Woolf most famous among the latter. Vita also loved her husband, Harold Nicolson. And he loved her right back. Working with letters and journals, and writing his own explanatory text when necessary, their son, Nigel, has exposed this tangle of passions. In so doing he has performed a great service, showing us two magnificent individuals, not as they meant to be, but as they actually were. Ultimately the marriage "succeeded," according to Nicolson, "because each found permanent and undiluted happiness only in the company of the other." David Case takes the male texts, and Donada Peters those written by Vita. Together they render a stirring, upper-class duet. B.H.C. © AudioFile 2001, Portland, Maine [Published: JUN/JUL 01]