Virago at 50 – some of my favourite green Viragos from the shelves

As some of you may know, the groundbreaking feminist publisher Virago Press is celebrating its 50^th Anniversary this week. Since 1973, Virago has been championing women writers, showcasing their voices to readers around the world with great success.

To mark the occasion, I’ve selected eight of my favourite Virago Modern Classics in their original green livery, complete with those gorgeous covers and iconic green spines. The VMCs were launched in 1978 with Antonia White’s Frost in May, so they too have a notable anniversary (at 45) this year.

The Soul of Kindness by Elizabeth Taylor

Elizabeth Taylor has become one of my very favourite writers over the last ten years, so much so that I could have quite easily filled all eight slots with her books. Nevertheless, I’m limiting myself to one book per author to highlight a range of women writers. Naturally, Mrs Palfrey at the Claremont would be a very popular choice, but sadly I don’t have a copy of the original green VMC. So instead, I’ve plumped for A Soul of Kindness, which remains somewhat underrated in Taylor’s bibliography, I think. The story revolves around Flora Quartermaine, a beautiful young woman who seems to have the perfect life. But while Flora considers herself to be the very soul of kindness, in reality this is far from the truth, with her best intentions often causing more harm than good. Like many of Taylor’s best novels, it’s full of insights into the foibles of human nature and the consequences of such behaviours. Lovers of monstrous characters will likely enjoy this one!

The Doves of Venus by Olivia Manning

This gorgeous coming-of-age novel imbued with the freshness of youth was my first experience of Olivia Manning’s work, and it remains a favourite. Eighteen-year-old Ellie Parsons comes to London in search of love, life and some much-needed independence. She finds love in the shape of an older dilettante, Quintin Bellot, but the situation gets messy when Qunitin’s wife, the flighty, self-absorbed Petta, reappears. As ever with Manning, the settings are vividly captured, evoking the bohemian atmosphere of London life in the 1950s. The novel also touches on the theme of ageing, contrasting Ellie’s youthful enthusiasm with Petta’s resentment over her faded beauty. An underrated gem that deserves some more attention.  

The Vet’s Daughter by Barbara Comyns

There are hints of Comyns’ own troubled childhood in The Vet’s Daughter, a striking coming-of-age novel with a dark, highly distinctive flavour. The story is narrated by Alice Rowlands, the titular vet’s daughter, who lives in south London with her domineering father, Euan, and sickly mother. Euan Rowlands is violent, essentially bullying Alice and her mother with sudden outbursts and demands. Alice, on the other hand, is fully alive to the world around her, sensing the danger that her father duly presents. She is an imaginative girl at heart, a quality that comes through in her childlike tone of voice. All the hallmarks of a classic Comyns novel are here: an enchanting, innocent child caught up in a dysfunctional family; memorable, vivid imagery, often with an off-kilter edge; and a simple, matter-of-fact tone of voice that belies the horrors within. A magical novel by a highly imaginative writer.

The Tortoise and the Hare by Elizabeth Jenkins

I loved this exquisitely written novel about the slow, stealthy disintegration of a marriage. It’s a masterclass in precision and understatement, all the more impressive for its subtlety and refusal to submit to melodrama. Central to the story are the Gresham family – fifty-two-year-old Evelyn Gresham, a successful barrister of the highest rank, his beautiful wife, Imogen, and the couple’s ten-year-old son, Gavin. Imogen is a sensitive, compassionate young woman, but efficient management and organisation are not her strongest suits. By contrast, Blanche Silcox – the Greshams’ nearest neighbour – is the polar opposite of Imogen. At fifty, Blanche is the living embodiment of the home counties ‘country type’, complete with her dowdy tweeds and forbidding hats. The real strength of this novel lies in the precision and clarity Jenkins brings to her portrayal of Imogen, particularly the lack of agency she feels when faced with Blanche as a competitor for Evelyn’s heart. A quietly devastating book with the power to endure.

The Weather in the Streets by Rosamund Lehmann

A sequel to Lehmann’s earlier novel, Invitation to the Waltz, in which seventeen-year-old Olivia Curtis is captivated at her first society ball by the dashing Rollo Spencer. Ten years later, a chance encounter brings Olivia back into contact with Rollo, sparking a rush of conflicting emotions – more specifically, the desire to open up vs the tendency for self-protection. This remarkable book expertly captures the cruelty, frustration and devastation of a doomed love affair in the most glittering prose. The modernity of Lehmann’s approach, with its passages of stream-of-consciousness and fluid style, makes the novel feel fresh and alive, well ahead of its time for the mid-1930s. 

Tea at Four O’Clock by Janet McNeill

First published in 1956, Tea at Four O’Clock is a brilliant but desperately sad story of familial obligations, ulterior motives and long-held guilt, set within the middle-class Protestant community of Belfast in the 1950s. When we first meet the novel’s protagonist, Laura Percival, a rather timid spinster in her forties, it is the afternoon of the funeral of her elder sister, Mildred — a woman whose presence still looms large over the Percival residence despite her recent death. This powerful, character-driven novel focuses on the psychology and underlying motives of different individuals tied together by familial or social bonds, however tenuous they might be. In order to move forward, Laura must delve into her past to deal with painful experiences she has long since buried. Turnpike Books reissued this a few years ago, and it’s well worth chasing down – another excellent novel by an underrated writer.

Chatterton Square by E. H. Young

Currently in print as part of the British Library’s Women Writers series but appearing here in its green Virago livery, Chatterton Square is a novel of contrasts, an exploration of lives – women’s lives in particular – in the run-up to the Second World War. On the surface, Chatterton appears to be a straightforward story of two neighbouring families – one relatively happy and functional, the other much more constrained. Nevertheless, the degree of depth and nuance that Young brings to her portraits of the main characters makes it a particularly compelling read – more so than my brief description suggests. Set in Upper Radstowe’s Chatterton Square – a place modelled on Bristol’s Clifton – the novel features one of the most pompous characters I’ve encountered in recent years: Herbert Blackett, a conceited, self-absorbed puritan who considers himself vastly superior to his more relaxed neighbours.

All Passion Spent by Vita Sackville-West

I thoroughly enjoyed this classic story of an elderly woman who grasps the opportunity for a little liberation in life following the death of her husband. For the past seventy years, eighty-eight-year-old Lady Slane has devoted her life to the needs of her husband, the Earl of Slane, and their six children – all now in their sixties and feeling the responsibilities of middle age. Her own needs and desires have been pushed aside in favour of playing the dutiful wife, accompanying the Earl on his diplomatic duties in India and the UK. In their infinite wisdom, the four eldest Slane children soon decide that their mother must be parcelled up like a piece of furniture and sent to each of their houses on a rotational basis until the time of her death. The possibility that Lady Slane might have a mind of her own does not come into the equation. Lady Slane, however, has other plans in mind…This is a touching story of a woman who finally finds freedom and liberation in her twilight years. There are some lovely descriptive passages and sensitive insights into the protagonist’s inner life in this one – fans of Lolly Willowes would likely enjoy it too.

So there we are, a lovely selection of green VMCs to mark Virago’s 50^th Anniversary!

Do let me know what you think of these books if you’ve read any of them. Or maybe you’d like to share a favourite VMC of your own. Feel free to mention them in the comments below.