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Book Nook: Adeline - a Novel of Virginia Woolf, by Norah Vincent

Norah Vincent is one of my favorite writers. Her new novel merits the widest readership possible. She has done something so very impressive in the writing of it. Here's my review which ran in the Cox Ohio newspapers:

There are some subjects that cannot be broached easily; sexual abuse, depression, insanity, and suicide are among them. The English novelist Virginia Woolf (1882-1941) had an uneasy knowledge of these matters over the course of her life. Woolf wrote some extraordinary, visionary books. She experienced sexual abuse, depression, and madness. Finally she decided to take her own life. Norah Vincent's fictional exploration of Woolf's life story is exquisitely wrought.  "Adeline - a Novel of Virginia Woolf" is not a biography or a work of history. Vincent immersed herself in Woolf's body of work and studied the legacy of the Bloomsbury Group, a close-knit band of British intellectuals. Woolf was a leading participant in this rambunctious band of painters, writers, critics and thinkers which began to flourish during the years leading up to the First World War. Virginia Woolf was born Adeline Virginia Stephen but she never went by the name of Adeline. In an interview Vincent explained to me that she chose that name for the title because it felt like a representation of Woolf's inner child, the innocent Adeline who had not yet been sexually abused by a family member. Vincent imagines that Adeline becomes a fragment of Virginia's personality who has split off as a psychological means of coping with the memories of being abused. As "Adeline" opens it is 1925 and Virginia is in the bath. She is depressed. Vincent seems to have formed an uncanny psychic bond with her subject. Here's her description of what Virginia felt: "She knows this feeling, this progression of decline, she knows it very well, the consciousness curling under the despair, helpless as a page in the fire, succumbing to the grey, darkening possession." Woolf's husband Leonard Woolf was also part of Bloomsbury. He is depicted here as Virginia's protector, her anchor, keeping her safely moored. He appears outside the bath: "Now there is the expected tap on the door, one soft knuckle, meek and respectful, but a touch alarmed in spite of itself. Leonard's voice is kind but firm, treading the balance of care and control." Leonard was a writer too and Virginia's trusted critic. He was always her first reader and respected her genius. Following Virginia's suicide in 1941 Leonard soldiered on. He wrote a number of autobiographies. Vincent told me she has read every volume. The author knows her subject. According to Vincent this book "wrote itself." Time passes. Virginia reaches the apex of her literary endeavors. Her mental burdens are accumulating. Britain is under siege, the German bombardments are spawning waves of fear. We already know how this story ends. But will it be tragic? How does the author handle Virginia's death? Vincent does it gently and tastefully. The day before Virginia dies she visits her doctor Octavia Wilberforce. Vincent envisioned Virginia justifying her decision to the doctor: "But now, at last, blithe being has caught up with me. The outer and the inner crises have met. Now, when the horrors are everywhere, when the world is a whirlwind of shared distress, I am snug in the storm's eye. I am home." "Adeline - a Novel of Virginia Woolf" exudes an intoxicating force. Vincent has accessed a hidden channel into the soul of this troubled genius. Her prose will take your breath away. This is not merely book, this is great literature. Oh, and you have to check out her other books. You can find out more about Norah at her website: http://www.norahvincent.org/

Vick Mickunas introduced the Book Nook author interview program for WYSO in 1994. Over the years he has produced more than 1500 interviews with writers, musicians, poets, politicians, and celebrities. Listen to the Book Nook with Vick Mickunas for intimate conversations about books with the writers who create them. Vick Mickunas reviews books for the Dayton Daily News and the Springfield News Sun.