Valentine Ackland

At last, a biography of Valentine Ackland.Frances Bingham has written the definitive biography ofthisremarkable cross-dressing woman, poet and activist, recovering animportant part of British lesbian history and creating a testament to queernessand gender identity in Valentines transgressive life.Mrs. Turpin was Valentine Ackland, on the run from herrecent disastrous marriage. She was soon to meet the love of herlife,Sylvia Townsend Warner, already a celebrity for her dashing debutnovelLolly Willowes.They would live in Dorset together in apassionate relationship until Valentines death in 1969.Valentine was a dedicated poet, deeply involved withCommunism during the 1930s, and an environmentalist and peace campaigner.Recently released MI5 files show that she was blacklisted for confidential workduring World War II, and remained under long-term surveillance.Despite her commitment to Sylvia, Valentine had many affairswith women who fell for her androgynous beauty and her masterful conduct of anamour.She also struggled with alcoholism,buttherelationship with Sylvia survived all challenges.Bingham prompts the reader to keep turning the pagesof this well-researched, idiosyncratic, and fascinating biography. NewYork Journal of BooksThe cross-dressing Communist lesbian, her closet gayhusband and a love story like no other.The DailyMail