Leonard Woolf: A Biography

This meticulously researched and compassionately rendered portrait of Leonard Woolf, the dark star of Bloomsbury, is the first to capture his troubled relationship with his wife, his own intellect, and the tumultuous world of artists and eccentrics around him. A man of extremes, Woolf was by turns ferocious and tender, violent and repressed, opinionated and nonjudgmental, always an outsider of sorts within the exceptionally intimate, fractious, and sometimes vicious society of brilliant but troubled friends and lovers. In telling Woolf’s story, Victoria Glendinning traces the development of the Bloomsbury circle, bringing to life the group’s literary and personal discussions. She also provides an unprecedented account of Woolf’s marriage to the legendary Virginia, revealing his undying creative and emotional support for her amid her numerous breakdowns. Leonard Woolf is a perceptive and lively biography of a man whose far-reaching influence is long overdue the full appreciation Glendinning provides.