Pepita (Used Hardcover) - V. Sackville-West

Pepita tell the extraordinary story first of Vita Sackville-West's grandmother, Josefa Duran, and then of her mother Victoria. Josefa, the half-gipsy daughter of an old-clothes peddler from Malaga, makes her fortune as a dancer in Madrid; soon she is 'the Star of Andalusia' and the toast of all Europe. When she becomes the devoted, though not invariably faithful, mistress of a young English attaché, the stage is set for a most bizarre family history. After her early death the story, no less improbable, of their daughter Victoria takes over. Condemned to an austere convent until the age of eighteen, socially ostracized without knowing why, Victoria is suddenly whisked off to Washington, where she becomes the mistress of her diplomat father's household. Eventually this illegitimate half-Spanish waif finds herself the mistress of Knole, one of the grandest houses in England. Volatile and wayward, she exercises power and charm in equal measure on all who know her, her life 'a mixture of tragedy and sheer fun'.
Vita Sackville-West's fascination with this unlikely inheritance brings her two subjects vividly to life- the unknown and unfathomable Pepita, the adored yet impossible Victoria. First published in 1937, this is an unforgettable picture of life in Spain, France, America and England, seen through the achievements of two indomitable and highly unconventional women.

Condition:  Original Dust Jacket

Hardcover

1119JT