The Dragon in Shallow Waters

(Hardback)

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The Dragon in Shallow Waters (1921) is a novel by Vita Sackville-West. While she is most widely recognized as the lover of English novelist Virginia Woolf, Sackville-West was a popular and gifted poet, playwright, and novelist in her own right. A prominent lesbian and bohemian figure, Sackville-West was also the daughter of an English Baron, granting her a unique and often divided perspective on life in the twentieth century. The Dragon in Shallow Waters, her second novel, is a tale of family, jealousy, and murder. Outside the windows three chimneys reared their heads side by side, emitting three parallel streams of smoke, gigantic black plumes that floated horizontally away over the flooded country, and that at night were flecked with red sparks as they flowed out from the red glare at their base. At the edge of the moors, a harsh and bleak environment, a flaming, smoking factory churns out perfumes and soaps for the people of England. Brothers Silas and Gregory Dene live together in a cottage not far from the hulking expanse of the factory, and like most of their neighbors depend on the site for their livelihoods. Consumed with jealousy, Silasa blind manhas already murdered his wife, and as the story unfolds seems more than willing to kill again. With a beautifully designed cover and professionally typeset manuscript, this edition of Vita Sackville-Wests The Dragon in Shallow Waters is a classic of English literature reimagined for modern readers.

Author Bio

Vita Sackville-West (1892-1952) was an English novelist, poet, journalist, and gardener. Born at Knole, the Sackvilles hereditary home in west Kent, Vita was the daughter of English peer Lionel Sackville-West and his cousin Victoria, herself the illegitimate daughter of the 2nd Baron Sackville and a Spanish dancer named Pepita. Educated by governesses as a young girl, Vita later attended school in Mayfair, where she met her future lover Violet Keppel. An only child, she entertained herself by writing novels, plays, and poems in her youth, both in English and French. At the age of eighteen, she made her debut in English society and was courted by powerful and well-connected men. She had affairs with men and women throughout her life, leading an open marriage with diplomat Harold Nicholson. Following their wedding in 1913, the couple moved to Constantinople for one year before returning to settle in England, where they raised two sons. Vitas most productive period of literary output, in which she published such works as The Land (1926) and All Passion Spent (1931), coincided with her affair with English novelist Virginia Woolf, which lasted from 1925 to 1935. The success of Vitas writingpublished through Woolfs Hogarth Pressallowed her lover to publish some of her masterpieces, including The Waves (1931) and Orlando (1928), the latter being inspired by Sackville-Wests family history, androgynous features, and unique personality. Vita died at the age of seventy at Sissinghurst Castle, where she worked with her husband to design one of Englands most famous gardens.