SUNFLOWER

A beautiful actress of the 1920s faces painful decisions about her lovers and her future in Rebecca West?s posthumously published semi-autobiographical novel  Star of the stage, Sunflower has everything but the attention she craves from her long-time?and married?lover, Lord Essington, a brilliant and intense man occupied with more intellectual thoughts. Eager for a more rewarding experience, Sunflower must decide whether another ?great man,? the Australian Francis Pitt, will offer a more traditional relationship and happiness. Written during West?s own psychoanalysis and never finished, Sunflower ponders topics of the power struggle between the sexes, and a woman?s freedom to determine her romantic destiny. Drawn heavily from West?s own relationships with H.G. Wells and Lord Beaverbrook, this roman à clef gives a glimpse of the author?s own struggle to find a satisfying relationship.