Glendinning, Victoria

(British, 1937– )

Best known as the writer of acclaimed literary biographies including Vita: The Life of Vita Sackville-West (1983) and Anthony Trollope (1992), Glendinning has also written three novels. Begin with Electricity (1995) set in the 1880s, narrated by a young woman who marries a ‘prophet of the new science of electricity’. While he wires a country mansion for electricity, she forms a liaison with its master. Written in a beautiful limpid style, this is rich with historical detail, and the male characters particularly are powerfully drawn.

Rose Tremain, Hilary Mantel  JR