A book of secrets : illegitimate daughters, absent fathers / Michael Holroyd

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Preface: The world turned upside down -- The importance of being Ernest and some women of no importance -- Ernest goes abroad -- All about Eve -- With Catherine at Cimbrone -- Excitements, earthquakes, and elopements -- Women in love -- Ultraviolet -- Emergency exits -- Looking round -- Epilogue: Time regained -- Afterword: A history of the books -- Family trees.

On a hill above the Italian village of Ravello sits the Villa Cimbrone, a place of fantasy and make-believe. The characters that move through Michael Holroyd's new book are destined never to meet, yet the Villa Cimbrone unites them all. A Book of Secrets is a treasure trove of hidden lives, uncelebrated achievements, and family mysteries. With grace and tender imagination, Holroyd brings a company of unknown women into the light. From Alice Keppel, the mistress of both the second Lord Grimthorpe and the Prince of Wales; to Eve Fairfax, a muse of Auguste Rodin; to the novelist Violet Trefusis, the lover of Vita Sackville-West--these women are always on the periphery of the respectable world. Also on the margins is the elusive biographer, who on occasion turns an appraising eye upon himself as part of his investigations in the maze of biography. In A Book of Secrets , Holroyd gives voice to fragile human connections and the mystery of place.