Challenge — Vita Sackville-West

Challenge (1923) is a novel by Vita Sackville-West. While she is most widely recognized as the lover of English novelist Virginia Woolf, Sackville-West was a popular and gifted poet, playwright, and novelist in her own right. A prominent lesbian and bohemian figure, Sackville-West was also the daughter of an English Baron, granting her a unique and often divided perspective on life in the twentieth century. “After spending nearly two years in exile, Julian was once more upon his way to Herakleion.” A man of fate, Julian Davenant was born into a wealthy English family on the island of Herakleion. Rather than continue the legacy of colonialism, Davenant -- a Byronic hero -- dreams of independence for the people of Greece, and eventually finds himself at the center of a revolutionary plot. As his political star rises, his love affair with the beautiful Eve catches fire, plunging Julian into a world of passion and danger. Known for her tumultuous, heated affairs with men and women alike, Sackville-West is an artist whose works so often mirror her life. With a beautifully designed cover and professionally typeset manuscript, this edition of Vita Sackville-West's Challenge is a classic of English literature reimagined for modern readers.