Heritage — Vita Sackville-West

Heritage (1919) 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. Heritage, her debut novel, is a semi-autobiographical tale of desire, secrecy, and family. “[H]er name was Ruth, and she was gleaning. She moved by stages across the field, throwing out her long wooden rake to its farthest extent and drawing it back to her until she had gathered sufficient strands into a heap, when, laying down the rake, she bound the corn against her thigh, rapidly and skilfully into a sheaf.” While staying on a farm in rural Kent, Malory finds himself enthralled with Ruth Pennistan, the daughter of his host. Intrigued by her dark hair and olive complexion, he attempts to discover the secret of her birth. 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 Heritage is a classic of English literature reimagined for modern readers.