Palmerino

Welcome to Palmerino, the British enclave in rural Italy where Violet Paget, known to the world by her pen name and male persona, Vernon Lee, held court. In imagining the real life of this brilliant, lesbian polymath known for her chilling supernatural stories, Melissa Pritchard creates a multilayered tale in which the dead writer inhabits the heart and mind of her lonely, modern-day biographer.

Positing the art of biography as an act of resurrection and possession, this novel brings to life a vividly detailed, subtly erotic tale about secret loves and the fascinating artists and intellectuals — Oscar Wilde, John Singer Sargent, Henry James, Robert Browning, Bernard Berenson — who challenged and inspired each other during an age of repression.

Bio

Melissa Pritchard is a professor emeritus of English (creative writing) at Arizona State University.


Praise for this book

['Palmerino'] draws its life from its large and vivid characters. … With her signature hothouse lyricism and psychological acuity, Pritchard carries us fully into her created world.

IMAGE: Art, Faith, Mystery
Cover of Palmerino
Date published
Publisher
Bellevue Literary Press
ISBN
978-1934137680

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