The Fall of a Sparrow

The Vivien Eliot Papers is a groundbreaking new biography of Vivien Eliot, comprising two sections: her Life and her Papers. Based on a rich repository of primary evidence, much only recently uncovered, it corrects the accidental inaccuracies and deliberate distortions that have circulated around one of Bloomsbury's most gossiped-about, enigmatic couples, while unveiling fascinating new discoveries that give a more balanced understanding of both partners. For the first time, too, immaculate texts of Vivien's own writing are presented, carefully distinguished from Eliot's input, which demonstrate a fresh and wry talent all of her own.

Ann Pasternak Slater is a literary scholar, translator and Senior Research Fellow in English at St Anne's College, Oxford. She has written books on Shakespeare and Evelyn Waugh, edited the works of George Herbert and Evelyn Waugh, and translated Tolstoy and Pasternak. She is a contributing editor on the board of the 42-volume scholarly edition of The Complete Works of Evelyn Waugh soon to be published by Oxford University Press.