Anny: A Life of Anny Thackeray Ritchie - Softcover

Garnett, Henrietta

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0712667776 ISBN 13: 9780712667777

Publisher: Pimlico, 2006

Synopsis

Anne Thackeray Ritchie, daughter of the author of Vanity Fair and step-aunt of Virginia Woolf, was also a fine writer. Based on new and original research, this enchanting and evocative memoir paints the world of Anny's intricate web of relations and friends: children's parties with the Dickens family, holidays with Julia Margaret Cameron and the Tennysons, intimate scenes with Browning in Rome and Ruskin on Lake Coniston. In addition we read about Anny's own inner life: her near-obsession with her father: William Makepeace Thackeray, her escape into writing, her startling marriage to her second cousin and her godson, and the story of her sister Minny's passionate marriage to Leslie Stephen. We also learn of Stephen's second wife, Julia Jackson, mother of Vanessa Bell and Virginia Woolf. Meticulously researched, this intimate story draws not only on a wealth of letters, journals, hitherto unpublished sketches and photographs, but also on family legends passed down to the author through four generations. Illuminating, comic and touching, Anny reads like a novel, presenting a unique portrait of the rich literary world that formed the bridge between the Victorians and Bloomsbury.

About this title

About the Author

Henrietta Garnett is the great-grand-daughter of Leslie Stephen and Julia Jackson. The author of several short memoirs, and of an acclaimed novel, Family Skeletons, she is also an Honorary Member of the Dimbola research group, run by the Julia Margaret Cameron Trust. She divides her time between Provence and England.

From the Back Cover

Anne Thackeray Ritchie, daughter of the author of Vanity Fair and step-aunt of Virginia Woolf, was also a fine writer. Based on the new and original research, this enchanting and evocative memoir paints the world of Anny's intricate web of relations and friends: children's parties with the Dickens family, holidays with Julia Margaret Cameron and the Tennysons, intimate scenes with Browning in Rome and Ruskin on Lake Coniston. In addition we read about Anny's own inner life: her near-obsession with her father, William Makepeace Thackeray, her escape into writing, her startling marriage to her second-cousin and her godson, and the story of her sister Minny's passionate marriage to Leslie Stephen. We also learn of Stephen's second wife, Julia Jackson, mother of Vanessa Bell and Virginia Woolf. Meticulously researched, this intimate story draws not only on a wealth of letters, journals, hitherto unpublished sketches and photographs, but also on family legends passed down to the author through four generations. Illuminating, comic and touching, Anny reads like a novel, presenting a unique portrait of the rich literary world that formed the bridge between the Victorians and Bloomsbury.

Edition details

• Publisher: Pimlico
• Publication date: 2006
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0712667776
• ISBN 13: 9780712667777
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 336