My Review of Arresting Beauty by Heather Cooper

‘Beggars can’t be choosers. They really can’t.’

Based on true historical events, Arresting Beauty follows the extraordinary story of Mary Ryan, who was found begging on Putney Heath at the age of ten by the celebrated Victorian photographer Julia Margaret Cameron. Julia takes Mary into her magnificently bohemian household, to be trained as a maid and educated alongside her own sons, before becoming an assistant, muse and model for Julia in many of her pioneering photographs.

When Julia decides to move to Freshwater in the Isle of Wight, to live close to her great friend Alfred Tennyson, Mary—clever and rebellious—finds herself uncomfortably poised between two worlds—that of a servant girl in one, and in another, artistic assistant to Julia and befriending the likes of Tennyson, battling class and attitudes of the time to fulfil her own goals and perhaps even find love.

A sparkling historic romance novel based on a true-life story.

ISBN-13 : 9781913894160 (Hardback), 9781913894153 (Paperback), 9781913894177 (eBook)

Publication Date: September 30th 2023

RRP: £20.00 (Hardback), £10.99 (Paperback), £5.99 (eBook)

Thank you to Beachy Books for my digital review copy.

Julia Margaret Cameron, “Romeo and Juliet,” c. 1867, Harry Ransom Center, the University of Texas at Austin. 

Posed by sitters Mary Ryan and Henry Cotton

Henry took his leave of Julia and I said I would show him out. When we got to the front door I opened it for him (force of habit) but he suddenly seized my hand and pulled me outside into the dusk and along to the side of the house, away from where anyone could see us, and took me into his arms and began to kiss me,
 long kisses full of sweetness and tenderness and passion, with the scent of the first roses around us and the moon rising over the sea. He certainly had proved an apt pupil. When he finally left me, reluctantly and with many whispered farewells and murmurings of just-one-last-kiss, to walk across the fields back to his hotel, I stayed there in the darkness for a while, while my heart slowed back to normal. 

Fall into the world of artistic bohemia with photographer, Julia Margaret Cameron, her husband, her children including newest addition, orphaned, Mary Ryan. On Freshwater Bay, Isle of Wight, at Julia's home, Dimbola Lodge, we feel the hurried buzz of overfrenzied activity as author, Heather Cooper takes us through Mary Ryan's new life. We see her age over the years, with a naivete juxtaposed against her strong sense of self. She becomes a parlormaid rubbing shoulders with the immortal faces of Thomas Carlyle, Robert Browning and Julia's neighbor, Poet Laureate, Alfred Tennyson. 

Some of my most favorite chapters occurred between a curious young poetry reading Mary Ryan sneaking outdoors of Dimbola Lodge walking to Tennyson's nearby home, Farringford House. Some very sweet scenes of the laureate sitting under a tree talking to himself and as Mary gets closer, she hears a poem soon to be published, Maud!  Tennyson at Little Holland House equally surprised to see Mary Ryan there.   My favorite is the appearance of twelve year old Lionel Tennyson and Mary Ryan climbing up to the attic of Farringford House to see the stars while Tennyson was entertaining William Allingham.  

If you are curious about Mary Ryan's life with photographer, Julia Margaret Cameron and her clan, there are lots of wonderful chapters between the maids: Mary Hillier and Louisa as they get to know Mary Ryan. Heather Cooper very wisely describes the set up of photographs where Mary Ryan became the sitter and all of the home life situations that occur within the walls of Dimbola Lodge. 

This is a love story at heart, though. So, if you came for the romance its here in page turning beauty. From start to finish you will meet a few of MaryRyan's suitors before Henry Cotton sets his eyes on his true love. It is a tender love story told with a realism that could only come from orphaned beggar girl turned housemaid turned photographic sitter and assistant. 

The epilogue was a nice surprise as Heather Cooper provides more information on what happens to Mr. and Mrs. Henry Cotton after they marry leaving the Isle of Wight for India. Here's little hint as Mrs. Cotton becomes Lady Cotton with her children in this gorgeous painting included in Henry Cotton's memoir, India & Home Memories.

To purchase Arresting Beauty, Beachy Books

For more information about the author visit her website, Heather Cooper

The Lion visits The Dirty Monk: Henry Wadsworth Longfellow visits Alfred, Lord Tennyson: 15-18 July 1868

Home of Alfred, Lord Tennyson

Farringford House

Freshwater Bay, Isle of Wight, United Kingdom

American poet, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow nicknamed 'The Lion' visited Poet Laureate, Alfred, Lord Tennyson at his home Farringford House on the Isle of Wight in the United Kingdom during 15-18 July, 1868. He was accompanied by his two sisters, brother-in-law, 3 daughters, son, and daughter-in-law. The Longfellow clan stayed  at the Plumbly's Hotel and then Henry Ribbands' Bonchurch Hotel. 

On Thursday, July 16, 1868, Longfellow walked through the front entrance doors of Farringford House. Upon entering, the walls were lined with pictures including the length of the stairway. At the foot of the stairway was a bust of Dante on a table. Walking through a narrow passage that led to the breakfast room, you then continued on to The Drawing room filled with furniture; armchairs, sofa, desk in front of one oriel window. A small mask of Shakespeare hung  on the wall over the bookshelves. 

Lady Tennyson

wife of Lord Tennyson

Photograph by Oscar Rejlander

Mrs. Tennyson received Longfellow and family in the dining room. He describes Lady Tennyson:

A very lovely and attractive lady, exceedingly delicate looking in health - dressed in black silk deeply trimmed with crape - with a most simple bit of white lace edged with silk gimp falling from the front of her head back, and down to her shoulders - plain black hair tied behind at the neck with a broad black ribbon the ends trimmed with crape.

The Longfellow family had lunch with Alfred and Emily Tennyson. However, Alfred was the last to enter the room. As he passed each member of the Longfellow family, he shook each hand individually eventually making his way to take his seat at the head of the table next to his wife. They dined on mutton they raised themselves.

The following day, there was afternoon tea on the grounds of Farringford House with Longfellow and Tennyson seated next to Mrs. Tennyson. Around twenty women were invited to approach Longfellow to shake hands with him. Mrs. Tennyson held Longfellow's hand at one point thinking he was nervous but he was very agreeable and reportedly enjoyed the day. 

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

photographed by Julia Margaret Cameron

July, 1868, Isle of Wight, UK

A funny story was reported by Mrs. Tennyson how neighbor to Tennyson, photographer, Julia Margaret Cameron residing within walking distance at her home, Dimbola Lodge, Isle of Wight, heard that Longfellow was visiting Tennyson that July week and came bounding up the road to Farringford House to talk to Alfred about having the American poet sit for her so she could photograph him. Alfred warned I mean told Longfellow that she was a friend and neighbor and he basically had no choice. Needless to say, they visited Dimbola Lodge with Tennyson departing with these words...

Longfellow, you will have to do whatever she tells you. I'll come back soon and see what is left of you!

Below is one surviving stanza of a poem Longfellow wrote to Tennyson.

Wapentake

To Alfred Tennyson 

1873

By Henry Wadsworth Longellow

Poet! I come to touch thy lance with mine;

  Not as a knight, who on the listed field

  Of tourney touched his adversary's shield

  In token of defiance, but in sign

Of homage to the mastery, which is thine,

  In English song; nor will I keep concealed,

  And voiceless as a rivulet frost-congealed,

  My admiration for thy verse divine.

Not of the howling dervishes of song,

  Who craze the brain with their delirious dance,

  Art thou, O sweet historian of the heart!

Therefore to thee the laurel-leaves belong,

  To thee our love and our allegiance,

  For thy allegiance to the poet's art. 

SOURCE

Anne Longfellow Pierce, 'A visit to Farringford,' Boston University Studies in English, (1955) 96-8.

A review of Beauty In Thorns by Kate Forsyth

A spellbinding reimagining of ‘Sleeping Beauty’ set amongst the wild bohemian circle of Pre-Raphaelite artists and poets. 

The Pre-Raphaelites were determined to liberate art and love from the shackles of convention. 

Ned Burne-Jones had never had a painting lesson and his family wanted him to be a parson. Only young Georgie Macdonald – the daughter of a Methodist minister – understood. She put aside her own dreams to support him, only to be confronted by many years of gossip and scandal. 

Dante Gabriel Rossetti was smitten with his favourite model, Lizzie Siddal. She wanted to be an artist herself, but was seduced by the irresistible lure of laudanum. 

William Morris fell head-over-heels for a ‘stunner’ from the slums, Janey Burden. Discovered by Ned, married to William, she embarked on a passionate affair with Gabriel that led inexorably to tragedy. 

Margot Burne-Jones had become her father’s muse. He painted her as Briar Rose, the focus of his most renowned series of paintings, based on the fairy-tale that haunted him all his life. Yet Margot longed to be awakened to love. 

Bringing to life the dramatic true story of love, obsession and heartbreak that lies behind the Victorian era’s most famous paintings, Beauty in Thorns is the story of awakenings of all kinds.

The Sleeping Beauty by Edward Burne-Jones, Date: 1870 - 1890

There is nothing basic about Beauty in Thorns. Kate Forsyth has achieved the impossible! I love her incredibly dreamlike imagination and passionate research. She has brought to life three artistic couples and one daughter: Ned Burne-Jones with his wife Georgie and their daughter Margaret (Margot) Burne-Jones, Dante Gabriel Rossetti and his wife Lizzie Siddal, William Morris and his wife Jane Burden. It is as if she has pulled them through the mists of time speaking to me with the turn of every page. I felt as if I were present to witness all the wonderful and bitter times of their lives. For instance,  romance, courtship, marriage, birth, death with a few affairs thrown in! 

Told from the female perspective and broken up into five parts, Beauty in Thorns also introduces readers to the paintings of Ned Burne-Jones (Sir Edward Coley Burne-Jones) covering the theme of sleeping beauty through the real life paintings of The Briar Rose Series with Arthurian elements. 

There is so much I want to cover and because I don't want to give anything away, I must hold back. It is hard for me to do since I love these men and women so very much. I get excited and ramble on and on. 

It was nothing but a delight to read about the personal and romantic lives of the women this time first and foremost then the men and artists whom they put up with so much from.  The love triangle between William Morris his wife Jane Burden or Janey Morris and Dante Gabriel Rossetti is told from her perspective which has never been written in this form before. You think you know what happened but this is what I mean by the importance of research. With fresh eyes cast upon it, Kate Forsyth brings forth some surprises. 

I became completely swept away with Janey's life and desires because I saw her as a whole woman for the first time. Included in this triangle is, of course, the frail, sickly yet not so tragic Lizzie Siddal. I am so proud of Kate Forsyth for having the courage to write and present Lizzie as a flesh, blood and bone woman suffering from a  not so known then disease putting up with the grumbling love of her life, Gabriel Rossetti. Oh yes, he could be charming and brilliant but also suffered through his own demons as we all do. 

La Belle Iseult by William Morris, 1858, Jane Morris painted as Guinevere

"Janey had never really felt safe, not anywhere. She looked at Topsy. She could not speak. He knelt before her, taking one of her cold, clenched hands; I do love you most terribly. Won't you marry me? Let me look after you? She shook her head. 

I don't expect you to love me like I love you. I know that would be too hard. If you were cold or hungry or in danger...don't you see? If you married me, I could look after you. We could be comfortable together like we've been these past months. 

They had been comfortable together. She had liked it very much, embroidery, pretty flowers, listening to his poetry, drinking  a glass of golden sherry with a pot roast he had ordered in from the landlady. 

He had begun to pace, his hands clenched behind his back. 'I'd build you a house...in the country, with a garden and apple trees and roses...Maybe we could have children one day, little girls that look like you...

She thought of lying with him. They would be a strange couple. Her feet would stick out past his like her father's did over the edge of his mattress. And he was so broad and square. He'd be heavy on her. But the bed would be soft and the sheets would be crisp and clean like new snow. And he was a gentle man; for all his bearishness. He would be kind to her. And she'd be safe. 

Janey cleared her throat. 'Are ye sure? I ain't yer kind.' 

'You are my kind,' Topsy said passionately. 'Do you not love poetry and art and music and green growing things just as much as I do? Do you think it matters you are poor? I have money enough for both of us. It's the beautiful shining soul of you that I love not who your father is or where you grew up.' A lump in her throat. 

He came and took her hands 'I'd do my best to make you happy, Janey...

Tears and smiles together. 'If ye're really sure...

I have never been so sure of anything. 

He kissed her hands and then kissed her mouth. She nestled into his arms, with her head on his shoulder, thinking He's such a kind man, such a good man. I'm sure I'll come to love him in time."   ( Pages 140-142, PT. II-Ch.6, I Cannot Paint You-Winter 1857-58).

I fell in love with William Morris the man with a huge heart held within a rotund body. His creativity knew no bounds. He loved wholeheartedly and gave of himself in every manner. All he wanted was that same complete love in return. He was funny and shy at times; loved from  afar but what he could create with his hands through his poems, books, tapestries, wallpapers, etc., nobody even comes close today.  A wonderful teddy bear of a man, I would love to cuddle all night. (move over Janey if you don't want him, I will take him). 

As the marriage of Mr. and Mrs. Burne-Jones progressed; two children are born through the years, grown up to marry and have children themselves. We see Ned and Georgie as grandparents. Kate Forsyth focuses on daughter, Margaret Burne-Jones whom she calls, Margot.  Now, I have always been fascinated with Margaret and not very much in letters, diaries, survives. What is archived throughout museums does not cover every aspect of a person's life. She was the daughter of one of the most prominent painters and artists of the time. We meet the infant Margot, the young girl who is the absolute light of Ned's life. Overprotective is her father and so full of emotions himself that the idea of anyone hurting his little girl makes her growing up and finding love a bit difficult at times. All daughters who love and adore their dad understand how hard it is for both to come to terms with becoming an adult. You don't want to let them go quite yet. Still, you know they must spread their wings and fly. You stand ever close by in case they start to fall.  Don't worry Ned I'm sure you survived it all just fine. Even if you didn't, or emotionally struggled, you had your brilliant paintings of which daughter Margaret is included. Thank goodness for both of them that the rock of the family was wife and mother, Georgie Burne-Jones!  What a spitfire, powerhouse of a woman. She reminded me so much of my grandmother with that same petite frame, and drive to care for home and hearth no matter what life throws at you.  

• King Cophetua and the Beggar Maid by 
Sir Edward Coley Burne-Jones, 1884, Tate Britain

"One day, in late summer, a parcel of paints was mistakenly delivered to the house. It was a beautiful day, so Georgie untied her apron and took the parcel down to the studio herself. The walk was an enchanting one, through beds of hollyhocks and foxgloves, with plums and cherries beginning to swell on the trees.
She slowed as she approached the studio, not wanting to disturb Ned at his work. Not hearing any sounds, she knocked lightly, then went inside. 
Ned lay asleep on his couch, one hand tucked under his bearded cheek. He looked so peaceful there, Georgie carefully covered him up with a rug, then bent and kissed his brow. 
Light poured in through the windows, illuminating the paintings hung on the walls or propped up on trestles. The tall narrow canvas set on the trestle at the far end of the room. 
It was a painting of King Cophetua and the beggar-maid. Georgie recognised it at once, from the poem by Alfred Tennyson. the king-dark-skinned and black-haired-sat in his ornate armour, his helmet on his knee, looking up at the young woman, who sat above him dressed in grey rags that left her arms and feet bare. 
The beggar-girl gazed straight out of the painting, meeting Georgie's eyes. It was like gazing into a mirror. She had Georgie's chestnut-brown hair, her clear blue-grey eyes. In one hand, she clutched a bouquet of red anemones. Georgie gazed at them in amazement. She knew that, in the symbolic language of flowers, anemones meant forsaken love. They were the first flowers to open in spring, and the first to die. They were said to have sprung from the blood of Adonis, the god of beauty and desire. She wondered what it meant, that Ned had painted her in this way. 
The picture of the king and the beggar-maid was quite different. The look on her face was grave but composed, and seemed to show a certain pluck as she faced her future as the new queen. The beggar-maid was not beautiful, just as Georgie was not beautiful. It seemed as if it was her goodness, her simplicity, her steadfast courage, that had so enraptured the king.
Something new and warm swelled in her chest. Georgie put the parcel on the table and tiptoed out, wondering what it all meant. (pages 34-5. Pt. IV. Ch.5, Love-in-a-Mist, Spring-Autumn 1882).  
From the opening chapter and throughout, Beauty in Thorns, the poetry of Alfred Tennyson is quoted and mentioned as one of the Pre-Raphaelite artists true inspirations; the marriage between poetry and art. I cannot tell you what a great surprise it was to read Tennyson's name and words within these pages. I hope and implore all of you to seek out Beauty in Thorns by Kate Forsyth. It is a great work of literature; truly one of her best so far!  
To buy directly from the publishing house, Penguin Australia
To buy outside of the United States and throughout Europe, Book Depository
To contact the author herself, Kate Forsyth 

  

Alfred Lord Tennyson's Farringford Estate is now open to the public on the Isle of Wight!

Farringford The Home of Tennyson on the Isle of Wight

Image belongs to Farringford Estate 2017 

I just wanted to share a quick post with you all.

On August 23rd, 2017, Farringford, the home of Victorian Poet Laureate, Alfred, Lord Tennyson, officially re-opened to the public after being restored in detail the way it was during the time Alfred Tennyson lived there with his wife Lady Tennyson and two sons Hallam and Lionel Tennyson.
The family occupied the house during the years 1853 up until his death in 1892. They were some of the happiest years spent in the home.

The Tennyson family gardens have been restored as well. The tour includes home and gardens.

According to the Farringford Estate,

"Admission to the house and grounds is PRE-BOOKED TIMED ENTRY ONLY! Tours of the house run twice a day, at 11 a.m. and 2 p.m., Wednesday to Saturday.

Please call 01983 752500 to reserve your place." 

For more information, please visit the website of Farringford House  

Since I live in the United States, I would be eternally grateful to anyone who tours Farringford and shares their experiences here with me!  I will visit the home but not for another few years.

A review of The Reception of Alfred Tennyson in Europe

Alfred Lord Tennyson (1809-1892) has often been considered a particularly British writer in part as his official post as Poet Laureate inevitably committed him to a certain amount of patriotic writing. This volume focuses on his impact on the continent, presenting a major scholarly analysis of Tennyson's wider reception in different areas of Europe. It considers reader and critical responses and explores the effect of his poetry upon his contemporaries and later writers, as well as his influence upon illustrators, painters and musicians. The leading international contributors raise questions of translation and publication and of the choices made for this purpose along with the way in which his ideas and style influenced European writing and culture. Tennyson's reputation in Anglophone countries is now assured, following a decline in the years after his death. This volume enables us to chart the changes in Tennyson's European reputation during the later 19th, 20th and 21st centuries
 

Published: 11-17-2016

Format: E Pub Book Edition: 1st Extent: 416 ISBN: 9781350012530 

Imprint: Bloomsbury Academic Series: The Reception of British and Irish Authors in Europe 

Illustrations: 9 b/w illustrations List price: $201.99

This new edition is for every person who loves the poetry and dramas of Alfred, Lord Tennyson (6 August 1809 – 6 October 1892). His early poetry and major works are analyzed, dissected, by the nineteenth-century critics of the day from France, Italy, Portugal, Germany, Russia and Bulgaria. Translations of his works are included which is fascinating to read. You can see the changes made to tone and content depending upon the European regional dialects. I really enjoyed discovering the various viewpoints of not only Lord Tennyson's works but many personal positive and negative opinions shared about the poet laureate during his lifetime.  

It is always difficult for me, personally, to read the negative critiques of the man vs. his works because I know how sensitive and empathetic he was. As with every artist, we do not like to always read the 'bashing' of our heartfelt writings. He took everything to heart and kept it inside. Anyway, this edition does very well in providing the reader with a well-rounded viewpoint. It is up to each person to take away from it what they will. If you love reading his major works, from the European standpoint it is here in full. If you enjoy learning more about the reviews of his works then they are here as well. 

This edition made for fascinating reading because it helped me view the poet laureate from a different perspective and I always learn new things about poets and writers of the nineteenth-century.  

Thank you to Bloomsbury Academic for your ebook review edition. 

Bloomsbury Academic 

Happy U.S. publication day and review of Julia Margaret Cameron By Herself, Virginia Woolf And Roger Fry

This book reprints Virginia Woolf's witty and moving biographical essay of her great-aunt, and Roger Fry's pioneering study of the photographs published together in 1926 under the title Victorian Photographs of Famous Men and Fair Women. To these are added Julia Margaret Cameron's own auto-biographical fragment, Annals of the Glass House, and her only surviving poem, On a Portrait. They are introduced by Tristram Powell. Tristram Powell is a film-maker and historian of photography.

Virginia Woolf (1882-1941), a central figure of the Bloomsbury Group, is best known for the nonlinear narrative of her novels, and for her feminism.

Roger Fry (1866-1934), painter and critic, was another member of the Bloomsbury Group. He was a leading champion of Post-Impressionism.

Daguerreotype portrait of Julia Margaret Cameron and her daughter, Julia Hay Cameron by Unknown, 1845, National Media Museum

The photographer is unknown but it is possible that the image was made in Calcutta as both mother and daughter were there until January 1845, after which 'Little Julia' returned to England for three years. The case is inscribed by the daughter 'Feb 10th 1845. This for me to keep', and probably at a later date by her mother 'Given to my Julia by her request - her own choice.' Julia Hay Cameron died in childbirth in her early 30s, at which point the portrait appears to have been returned to her mother. (This portrait is now housed at Dimbola Lodge, Freshwater Bay, Isle of Wight, home of Julia Margaret Cameron. This image is not included in the book. I added it because its beautiful)

At the age of forty-eight, Julia Margaret Cameron (1815-1879) was given a camera by her daughter when she moved to the Isle of Wight:  'It might amuse you, Mother, to try to photograph during your solitude at Freshwater.' The gift was to begin Mrs.Cameron's short but prolific career as one of photography's first great artists.

Cameron's long exposures and softfocus portraits were criticised by photographers of the time as lacking skill, but these evocative manipulations were in fact early realisations of photography's true poetic potential. Such expressiveness was something more readily understood by the Pre-Raphaelite painters with whom Cameron became associated, and who gave her encouragement.

Her portraits capture some of the most famous intellectuals and artists of the Victorian era, all made to follow Mrs. Cameron's famously exacting direction.

 PRODUCT DETAILS

Julia Margaret Cameron By Herself,Virginia Woolf, Roger Fry

BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY
128 Pages, 4.5 x 5.75
Formats: Trade Paper
Trade Paper, $16.95 (US $16.95) (CA $22.95)
Publication Date: October 2016
ISBN 9781843681212
Rights: US & CA

Pallas Athene (Oct 2016)

 In a letter to Sir Edward Ryan she says, 'Lastly as to spots, they must, I think remain. I could have them touched out, but I am the only photographer who always issues untouched photographs and artists for this reason, amongst others, value my photographs. So Mr. Watts and Mr. Rossetti and Mr. du Maurier write me above all others'. (Julia Margaret Cameron's letter, pg. 18). 

Dear Reader, if you are in search of first-hand accounts from Mrs. Cameron herself, her family members, closest friends, scholars, and the like then look no further.  For this small booklet is quite intimate and charming.  There are myriads of biographies on photographer, Julia Margaret Cameron's life and work. However, I am so in love with this beautiful yet introspective look beyond the lens into Mrs. Cameron's world in Ceylon and Freshwater Bay, Isle of Wight. 

It is as if her closest friends have gathered together all of Mrs. Cameron's surviving writings (Annals of the Glass House), excerpts from her letters to colleagues, family, and friends, as well as critiques of the day written by family members and scholars of photography and history. There is no better research than personal artifacts from the subject. Yes, we have her photographs but there was so much more to the woman behind the standing box camera lens. 

 

 Julia Margaret Cameron with sons Henry Herschel Hay and Charles Hay, 1857-8

by an unknown photographer, Harry Ransom Center

I was shocked when I read the story of Julia's father in his coffin returning home with his widow and young children (including a very young child named Julia Margaret) when his coffin exploded with him in it!  Apparently, James Pattle was something of a liar and a scoundrel with a temper!  There are several fascinating stories about young Julia Margaret Pattle's childhood and family; yes, she was born  a Pattle before marrying Charles Hay Cameron later in life and having her family.  So many wonderful mentions of Mr. Cameron, his viewpoint on living on their coffee plantation in Ceylon, his thoughts on his wife, Julia Margaret, their life together, etc. It is worth the money for learning about that rare aspect of her personal life alone!  

If you want to learn more about the poets and scholars of Freshwater Bay on the magical Isle of Wight, all her friends are gathered within these pages. Focus is put on the famous laureate, Alfred, Lord Tennyson but deeper exploration into Julia Margaret's earlier friendship with great men such as poet and essayist, Sir Henry Taylor and astronomer, chemist, polymath Sir John Herschel just to name a few!  Wonderful descriptive stories of dinners and parties at her sister Sarah Prinsep's Little Holland House. I could have stayed there forever.  

There are fifty of Julia Margaret Cameron's photographs numbered and labeled as plates. Next to each photograph is a story and anecdote of that particular friend and sitter. However, some wonderful stories of the famous visitors who met Mrs. Cameron and didn't exactly like or get on with her! Very funny tidbits indeed. 

One of my favorite quotes from the book is one I often remember and know to be true even to this day. I should know because I am blessed to have visited Freshwater Bay, Isle of Wight and most of my very dear 'friends' remain there...

Everybody is either a genius, or a poet, or a painter or peculiar in some way. 

Is there nobody commonplace?  

 

I am forever grateful to Trafalgar Square Publishing, Independent Publishers Group as well as Pallas Athene for mailing me a beautiful hardcover edition of, Julia Margaret Cameron By Herself, Virginia Woolf and Roger Fry for review. I will cherish it always. 

Now published in the United States and available for purchase, Amazon US

Already published in the United Kingdom and available for purchase, Amazon UK