This Narrow Place: Sylvia Townsend Warner and Valentine Ackland Life, Letter and Politics, 1930-1951

by Wendy Mulford

Genres: Biography

276 pages, Paperback

Published January 1, 1988

Reviews

[Lauren Thomson · Rating 4 out of 5]

i found a copy of Summer Will Show in a book shop but didn’t really know much about Sylvia (or her lifelong butch partner Valentine Ackland) and i wanted a little background before diving into either of their works. turns out that the author lived in Sylvia and Valentine’s home with her partner (who also happened to be Sylvia’s best friend in the last years of her life) for several years, so it goes without saying that this book is written with an intimacy you don’t usually experience when reading biographies. This Narrow Place is an insanely well researched look into the lives of two incredibly complex women who dedicated their lives to not only writing but communism, leftism and using their pens to analyse society, war and oppression. at times this was a little politically heavy in the sense that i wasn’t up to speed on the background of events like the Spanish War and some aspects of communism, but overall it’s a perfect springboard if you’re looking for a general overview on both Warner and Ackland’s lives; both separately and as a couple. tldr: it still makes the heart soar to read about lesbians living unapologetically throughout history.