Virginia

Hello all, as a writer I felt it would be a wonderful idea to start one of these so I could openly share my opinions and ideals with my wonderful fans. For those of you who are not familiar with me I will share a little about who I am and where I hail from. As we know life is not always easy, and for women it can sometimes be even more of a challenge. I could be cliché and talk about my love for long walks on the beach by moonlight, but I like to, how you kids say now, “keep it real”. I am not even sure how I, in a conventional way, I can discuss who I am in a few paragraphs, but I am willing to try. Well, I will start by informing you that my full name used to be Adeline Virginia Stephen, but as we all know upon marriage a woman must claim the man’s name. So, when I married my Husband Leonard Woolf on August 10th of 1912 my last name became his. In a perfect world we would all keep true to ourselves. I am proud to say that I have never had a formal education. I was educated by my parents with use of my father’s extensive library that was in my home at Hyde Park Gate in Kensington. Don’t be fooled by this fact for I had a dysfunctional family as many of you from the 21st century. Both my parents were widow/widowers which brought upon a large family of children from previous marriages. My mother brought into my family from a previous marriage my siblings; George Duckworth, Stella Duckworth, and Gerald Duckworth. My father brought into our family my sister Laura Makepeace Stephen, who unfortunately was declared mentally disabled, and was institutionalized until the time of her death. Though my parents already had quite a number of children they decided on more to create an even larger family this is how I, and my three other siblings; Vanessa Stephen, Thoby Stephen, and Adrian Stephen were brought into this world. Everyone has sob stories and here are a few of mine. At an early age my half brother’s thought it would be interesting to play some “games” with my sister Vanessa and I. This horrible experience was the jumping off point of my breakdowns which have haunted me for nearly my entire life. When I was 13 years old my mother suddenly passed in 1895. Just two short years later my sister Stella passed a well. These sudden and traumatic deaths piled on the anxiety I felt on a day to day basis. After my father died in 1904 I was briefly institutionalized. Though I have depressing thoughts I do have some fond memories. I spent my summers as a child at our Talland House which overlooked Porthmister Bay. This was the inspiration for some of the landscapes in my novels especially To the Lighthouse. My husband was a great man who took amazing care of me; however I had explored different lifestyle choices with my best friend and fellow writer Vita Sackville-West. She remained my friend up until the time of my death where I put stones in my pockets and walked into the Rive Ouse.Layout made by Dannielle