The Akeing Heart

“This long-hidden treasure-trove of letters, with its many wonderful new photographs and illustrations, is a revelation.” – Claire Harman, author of Sylvia Townsend Warner: A Biography

The Akeing Heart is the long-lost story of the deep and passionate relationships between Sylvia Townsend Warner, Valentine Ackland and Elizabeth Wade White. Their intellectual and emotional integrity that endured over twenty years of heartache is revealed here in the rich correspondence preserved by Elizabeth from their relationship, and reconstructed by her godson, Peter Haring Judd.

Valentine was the serial seducer, Elizabeth the passionate lover newly aware of her sexuality, while Sylvia kept faith in anger and despair. Elizabeth's long-term partner Evelyn Holahan emerges from the background to their story, as Sylvia's friend, and as a firm dash of realism to Valentine's romanticism.

The correspondence over twenty years between the four women in this agonized relationship—in letters, poems, telegrams, keepsakes, and notes—makes this book one of the finest collections of twentieth-century literary letters about love and its betrayals.

This edition of The Akeing Heart brings this supplement to Sylvia and Valentine's story to a wider readership.