Bloomsbury's outsider: a life of David Garnett

Literary Sensation, Lover, Libertine, Family Man

Award-winning novelist and towering figure of the 20th century British literary landscape, David Garnett was a Bloomsbury insider ultimately pushed to the margins. In this, the first biography of Garnett, (known as Bunny), author Sarah Knights—who has had unprecedented access to Garnett's papers—goes beyond stereotype and myth to present a clear sighted account of this often contradictory figure.

Trained as a scientist, Garnett worked as a novelist and wrote exquisite prose. Lady into Fox was made into a Rambert ballet and Aspects of Love into an Andrew Lloyd Webber musical. In the First World War, he was a conscientious objector whereas in the Second he worked for British intelligence. A free love enthusiast, he nevertheless married. He loathed literary criticism but became a leading literary critic.

Born into the Victorian period, Garnett's life spanned two World Wars, the Swinging Sixties...