BOOK OF SECRETS, A: ILLEGITIMATE DAUGHTERS,

"A Book of Secrets" is a masterfully atmospheric treasure-trove of hidden lives,
uncelebrated achievements and family mysteries. Acclaimed biographer Michael Ho
lroyd peers into dusty corners to bring a company of unknown women into the ligh
t: Alice Keppel was the mistress of both the second Lord Grimthorpe and the Prin
ce of Wales; Eve Fairfax was Lord Grimthorpe's abandoned fiancee and sometime mu
se of Auguste Rodin; and, the novelist Violet Trefusis was the lover of Vita Sac
kville-West. Taking the reader on a journey of discovery from Ravello to Paris,
from Kirkstall Grange in Yorkshire to Vita Sackville-West's home at Knole, "A Bo
ok of Secrets" lucidly gives voice to fragile human connections.