Valentine Ackland : A Transgressive Life
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At last, a biography of Valentine Ackland.
Frances Bingham has written the definitive biographyof this remarkablecross-dressing woman, poet and activist, recovering an important part ofBritish lesbian history and creating a testament to queerness and genderidentity in Valentines transgressive life.
Mrs. Turpin was Valentine Ackland, on the run from herrecent disastrous marriage. She was soon to meet the love of her life, Sylvia Townsend Warner, already a celebrity for her dashing debutnovel LollyWillowes. They would live in Dorsettogether in a passionate relationship until Valentines death in 1969.
Valentine was a dedicated poet, deeply involved withCommunism during the 1930s, and an environmentalist and peace campaigner.Recently released MI5 files show that she was blacklisted for confidential workduring World War II, and remained under long-term surveillance.
Despite her commitment to Sylvia, Valentine had manyaffairs with women who fell for her androgynous beauty and her masterfulconduct of an amour. She also struggled with alcoholism, but the relationship with Sylviasurvived all challenges.
"Bingham prompts the reader to keep turning the pages of this well-researched, idiosyncratic, and fascinating biography." New York Journal of Books
"The cross-dressing Communist lesbian, her closet gay husband
and a love story like no other." The Daily Mail
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