Heritage

by Vita Sackville-West

Ruth Pennistan is a farmer’s daughter, born and brought up in Kent. But her dark hair and eyes belie a forgotten ancestry – a Spanish gypsy grandmother and a passionate inheritance. Malory, the rather strait-laced guest of the family, falls head over heels in love, even whilst Ruth becomes trapped against her will in a drama of love and tragedy with another man. Vita Sackville-West’s first heroine echoes the passions and contradictions of the author's own life.

Genres: 20th Century, Fiction, British Literature, Literature

208 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1919

About the author

Novels of British writer Victoria Mary Sackville-West, known as Vita, include The Edwardians (1930) and All Passion Spent (1931).

This prolific English author, poet, and memoirist in the early 20th century lived not so privately.
While married to the diplomat Harold Nicolson, she conducted a series of scandalous amorous liaisons with many women, including the brilliant Virginia Woolf. They had an open marriage. Both Sackville-West and her husband had same-sex relationships. Her exuberant aristocratic life was one of inordinate privilege and way ahead of her time. She frequently traveled to Europe in the company of one or the other of her lovers and often dressed as a man to be able to gain access to places where only the couples could go. Gardening, like writing, was a passion Vita cherished with the certainty of a vocation: she wrote books on the topic and constructed the gardens of the castle of Sissinghurst, one of England's most beautiful gardens at her home.

She published her first book Poems of East and West in 1917. She followed this with a novel, Heritage, in 1919. A second novel, The Heir (1922), dealt with her feelings about her family. Her next book, Knole and the Sackvilles (1922), covered her family history. The Edwardians (1930) and All Passion Spent (1931) are perhaps her best known novels today. In the latter, the elderly Lady Slane courageously embraces a long suppressed sense of freedom and whimsy after a lifetime of convention. In 1948 she was appointed a Companion of Honour for her services to literature. She continued to develop her garden at Sissinghurst Castle and for many years wrote a weekly gardening column for The Observer. In 1955 she was awarded the gold Veitch medal of the Royal Horticultural Society. In her last decade she published a further biography, Daughter of France (1959) and a final novel, No Signposts in the Sea (1961).

She died of cancer on June 2, 1962.

Reviews

[Debbie Zapata · Rating 2 out of 5]

Jan 15, 10pm ~~ Review asap.

Jan 17, 815pm ~~ I'm not sure I have figured out yet how I felt about this book. This is my third title by Sackville West and I liked the first two (a novel and a poetry collection) much better than this, her first published novel.

I have spent a couple of days trying to pinpoint exactly what it was that bothers me about this book, but I am giving up. I want to move on. So I will just say that this story is mainly about a man named Malory, who was telling a story about a certain period in his life.

He was a rootless type of man, money enough to do what he wished in life, but not enough sense of purpose to do anything for very long. One day he decided he wanted to go learn about farming. So he went to stay at a certain farmhouse and became a sort of working tourist. But he became fascinated with the lives of the people, especially daughter Ruth and her male cousin who lived on a neighboring farm.

Except he was only interested in a voyeuristic kind of way, trying to influence their lives, trying to determine what exactly was the dark influence he felt about Ruth, and when he discovered that she had Spanish blood in her veins from her father's side of the family, he began to pay careful attention and see how this would influence her. Would she react to life in an English manner or would that 'hot blood' send her down a different path? And does he ever even realize that what he is feeling for this girl more than mere scientific curiosity? What types of tragedies are in store for Malory, the girl, and even the friend who is hearing all of this on a park bench and then becomes involved himself years later?

There were parts of this story that were quite moving, but other parts (and many attitudes expressed) made me want to scream. And I was not all that impressed by the ending. Well, not so much the ending itself, I expected what eventually did happen to actually happen. But what did not make any sense to me was why one character suddenly began to act the way he did. Maybe the author simply could not figure any other way to make her story end the way she wanted it to, I don't know.

I have a little challenge this year to read works by Sackville-West, at least the ones I can find easily at Project Gutenberg. I'm glad I did not read this one first, or else I probably would have deleted this project from my reading plans for the year. But since I read a later effort before reading this one, I am still interested in continuing with Sackville-West. But I am going to skip the next up in publication order, since it is poetry and I am simply not in the mood for that right now. So next up, when I am ready for more computer reading, will be her 1921 novel The Dragon In Shallow Waters.

[Charles Edwards-Freshwater · Rating 3 out of 5]

More of a 3.75 than a solid 4, but a good read nonetheless.

The problem I have with Vita Sackville-West's writing is that she very often goes off into tangents which, though technically very beautiful, somehow seem to break the immersion and add very little to the story. Mallory's letters are a prime example of this in places, especially around the middle of the novel, and take on a strange, erratic, overly poetic sensibility compared to the rest of his correspondence. These letters are a strange mix between very compelling and dreadfully dull - they almost seem like they're from two different people and it's hard to imagine that one man would write so differently, even with the passage of time.

There are weird decisions at play here in terms of plot as well - would someone really go and stay with a family of farmers just because someone once told them a story about a farmer's daughter? It's all a bit weird, and I'm not sure whether it's me being too modern about it, but it definitely feels weird.

The star of this book is undoubtedly the compelling Ruth, and it's a shame that she's actually not in it more. regardless, the last 40 or so pages were absolute magic and I think it the conclusion did save this novel from being more of a 2 star affair.

Enjoyable, but a bit strange. Worth reading if you enjoy Vita's other work, but I would recommend her other books before this.

3 stars

[Ivan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Though Virginia Woolf famously claimed "she writes with a pen of brass," Sackville-West is far above being a mere journeymen novelist. Heritage is a bucolic love story and is well plotted. The cover features press-agentry type blurbs hailing this as a masterpiece - it's not. However, it is quite good. There are set paragraphs of great beauty and insight. There were pages here and there where my attention began to drift, but the story does engage. The characters are very rich and the story is full of emotion. The ending seemed correct, though the narrative did wonder a bit far afield on it's way there. Is it a happy end? I'll not give it way. The picture on the cover makes it seem like this is a bodice ripper - it's not. It's a good old fashioned yarn.

[Jayaprakash Satyamurthy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Vita Sackville-West's first novel is powerfully written and employs a Conradesque mix of narratives. The tale here is bifurcated by the first world war, but this is not the focus of the story. Instead, we have a kind of story of manners, more specifically of a particularly ascetic over-intellectual English man being jolted finally out of the strict adherence to assumptions of class and worth that have crippled his life. Along the way there is much fine, subtle and tantalising characterisation, and yet I could also trace the author's aristocratic hauteur towards the merely middle class, her kind condescension to the rural class, and many instances of racism including a grotesque depiction of a black woman, to say nothing of the themes of national character and temperament passed on 'in the blood' that underlay much of the plot and were something of a reflection of the author's own fascination with her part-Spanish ancestry and an imagined affinity with the Roma. A mixed bag, but very powerful in its portrait of an austere, self denying character, his solitary way of finding his way through life, of his confidant, double (and almost-lover?) and a few supporting characters.

[Marina · Rating 4 out of 5]

'My dear Ruth,' I said, 'I like you in blue linen.'

There are a million reasons to understand the critics, and I do. But I can't say I didn't like it. I can't even say I didn't love parts of it.
Yes, there’s a lot to unpack: race, language, stereotypes. But oh, that fierce, proud Gypsy-Spanish heritage.

The conflict between a lifetime of training and latent blood. It's always something in the bones, isn't it?
A love triangle with three… maybe four sides.

[Hanna (lapetiteboleyn) · Rating 3 out of 5]

There's a lot I can appreciate about this,but if I sit back and ask myself if I had a good time while reading it, I just feel genuinely ambivalent about the whole thing.

[Barry Smith · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lovely book, so sensitively written, and quite unusual in many ways. I particularly warmed to how the love between the two protagonists finally comes to fruition after many many years. Love will find a way, indeed. A great writer I only recently heard about, and I shall definitely be searching for more of her titles. Into the past once more, my friends...

[Adam O'Leary · Rating 3 out of 5]

A heady romance surrounding the love affair of Ruth Pennistan and her cousin, Rawdon Westmacott. The novel is a good portrayal of the frustrating persistence of abusive relationships and the struggles of those who try to intervene, however the novel's insistence on personality and temperament being an ethnic trait is characteristic of the romanticist racism of the early 20th century and leaves 'Heritage' feeling rather dated.

[Lotte · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beautiful language, wonderful story. The only problem I had with it, was the racist idea of race being linked to characteristics.

[Thomas · Rating 3 out of 5]

While I really disliked the book's protagonist - deeply and completely - that is perhaps the strength of Vita Sackville-West's writing. Heritage is a book of its time, a turn of the century upper class fop waxing lyrical about the beauty of the countryside and the bovine but admirable nature of the countryfolk. It is, from start to finish, an embarassing inditement of the state of things, whether Malory is talking about uneducated farmers, women or people of colour. One sees, at least, how far we have come. Malory is so obnoxiously stupid that he can't even see or admit his obvious love for the novel's true protagonist, Ruth, and this stupidity is what drives the plot to its Hardian tragedies. Interestingly structured around various different storytellers - Malory is actually telling his story to the novel's narrator - Vita Sackville-West is able to analyse and criticise her characters openly. There is no subtle unreliability about Malory - we know he's ignorant and we cannot trust his words or emotions. After he manipulates Ruth's life due to his own emotional idiocy, Malory retreats into a foppish, idle depression which we can never take too seriously. Still, Sackville-West's skill is such that the characters around him come to life with a degree of sympathy - Rawdon's violence and helplessness, MacPherson's loneliness and Ruth's noble silences. Despite the strong writing, I found it difficult to love the book. The sense of aristocratic, colonial supremacy is just hard to stomach and the racialisation of Ruth's "Southern blood" is as ridiculous as Malory himself. In that context, the softly romantic ending might be satisfying for Ruth but I was loathe to give it to Malory and struggled to see what Ruth would ever see in his patheticness.

[Melanie Williams · Rating 3 out of 5]

Vita Sackville-West's first novel has much to recommend it, although its structure may seem rather clumsy at times and is generally distancing in its effect. I particularly liked the descriptions of the countryside in Kent and the bits of Kentish cultural input. The relationships between people were mostly well drawn, but Sackville-West's later writing develops more subtlety (also note that this novel contains some racist references linking characteristics to race).

[Ingrid DJ · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a superb story, brilliantly written in old style English. Not at all easy to read and it takes a few pages to get into the story. But once you start to get used to the poetic words the story takes you to the point you want to read uninterrupted. Magnificent, what an extraordinary classical writer Ms Sackville West was.

[Helen Carolan · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is one of her earliest books and it certainly shows. It doesn't have the same wit, sense of observation or barbed thrusts as her later novels. Here Malory an Englishman in Italy recounts to a friend his time spent on a farm in Kent and his experiences with the family who lived there. Very dull and lots of navel gazing.

[Catherine Jeffrey · Rating 4 out of 5]

The story is fiction but based on Vita Sackville-West’s family history. I really enjoy her writing whether it’s fiction or non fiction as her own voice and opinions always comes through the narrative.

[Gill · Rating 3 out of 5]

Wonderful descriptions but the plot wasn't that compelling........dated + inaccuracies (how can you sail from Smyrna to Baku?)

[Oskar · Rating 3 out of 5]

very lyrical, but also surprisingly dense and erratic

[Mathilde · Rating 2 out of 5]

Fascinating that so many British modernists wrote whole books that are just like race science but about how they’re superior to southern Europeans lol — mid novel but “I’ve been on a honeymoon with a thought” is beautiful