Young Bloomsbury, with Nino Strachey • #126

Step back in time with us as Kate visits Charleston home of Vanessa Bell and important gathering place for the members of the Bloomsbury Group, that collection of writers and artists including Virginia Woolf that coalesced around Gordon Square in London. Undaunted by the ghosts of her relatives Nino Strachey, author of a new book, Young Bloomsbury, joins us to discuss the up-and-coming younger generation, such as writer Julia Strachey, sculptor Stephen Tomlin and photographer Cecil Beaton, who followed in their footsteps. Nino considers the interplay of creative inspiration that flowed between the generations, but also the spirit of tolerance and acceptance of different gender identities and chosen families that allowed these young creatives to flourish.

Leave us a comment on our The Book Club Review website, where you'll also find more information on all the books mentioned, a transcript and our comments forum. Let us know your thoughts on the episode, or a Bloomsbury Group book that you love. 

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Find Nino on Twitter or Instagram @NinoStrachey.

Book recommendations

Lytton Strachey by Michael Holroyd (Penguin)

Eminent Victorians by Lytton Strachey

Cheerful Weather for the Wedding by Julia Strachey

Love Letters: Vita and Virginia (Penguin)

Orlando by Virginia Woolf (Penguin)

L.O.T.E. by Sheila von Reinhold (Jaracanda)

All Passion Spent by Vita Sackville West (Penguin), which we talked about on episode 12.

The Waves and To The Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf (Penguin)

Sissinghurst: The Creation of a Garden by Sarah Raven

A Boy at the Hogarth Press by Richard Kennedy (Slightly Foxed)

Vile Bodies by Evelyn Waugh (Penguin)

A Moveable Feast by Ernest Hemingway (Penguin)

Mrs Hemingway by Naomi Wood (Picador)

The Paris Wife by Paula McLain (Virago)