Name: All Passion Spent
Rating: 3.833333333333333 (6 reviews)

Victoria Sackville-West

Originally published: London: Hogarth Press, c1931.

All Passion Spent

Claire E

She wanted to merge with the things that drifted into an empty house, though, unlike the spider, she would weave no webs. She would be content to stir with the breeze and grow green in the light of the sun, and drift down in the passage of years, until death pushed her gently out and shut the door behind her.

Vita Sackville-West

Irreverently funny and surprisingly moving, All Passion Spent is the story of a woman who discovers who she is just before it is too late. After the death of elder statesman Lord Slane—a former prime minister of Great Britain and viceroy of India—everyone assumes that his eighty-eight-year-old widow will slowly fade away in her grief, remaining as proper, decorative, and dutiful as she has been her entire married life. But the deceptively gentle Lady Slane has other ideas. First she defies the patronizing meddling of her children and escapes to a rented house in Hampstead. There, to her offspring’s utter amazement, she revels in her new freedom, recalls her youthful ambitions, and gathers some very unsuitable companions—who reveal to her just how much she had sacrificed under the pressure of others’ expectations.

S.M.

Quietly funny, but also a devastating look at the choice so many women were forced to make, to marry and be subsumed by a husband's life and goals, rather than to pursue dreams of their own. <br /><br />After her husband's death, Lady Slane rediscovers her self when it is nearly too late. At 88 years of age, she shocks her avaricious, controlling, condescending children by deciding to do whatever she wants. She makes some surprising new friends, and looks back over her long life. <br /><br />One star off for some of the too-long passages of her internal thoughts, but overall, I loved it and cheered on Lady Slane throughout the story. 

Lindy

A charming extraordinary early 20th century novel about family relationships. When the great statesman Lord Slane dies, everyone assumes his dutiful wife will slowly fade away, the paying guest of each of her six children. But Lady Slane surprises everyone by escaping to a rented house in Hampstead where she revels in her new freedom, revives youthful ambitions and gathers some very unsuitable companions. Irreverent, entertaining and insightful, this is a tale of the unexpected joys of growing older. WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY JOANNA LUMLEY

Barbara

Edward

Katie Day

Defying her family in her eighty-eighth year, Victorian widow Lady Slane retires to a tiny house in Hampstead where she plans a life of independence, recollects the dreams of her youth, and seeks to alter her personal history. Reprint.

All Passion Spent

Reviews

Highlights