Although Vita Sackville-West is very well known and likely still much read, when I passed this pretty spine on the shelf I had to pull it out and take a peek at it. My library has a number of books by Vita and several that have this same spine design, but I thought perhaps The Dark Island would be less well known to readers. I've yet to read Vita. She's one of those "I mean to read" authors and I've collected several Virago editions of her work, though I think this was never a Virago title? It was published in 1936 by Doubleday, Doran & Company, Inc.
There's one lone Amazon (five star) review by a reader who names this her "favorite romance ever" which "beautifully portrays the mind and responsibilities of a British woman in that time". I've done a little digging and not found many other references to it. The ever handy New York Times, however, did see fit to give it a positive review. It sounds as though the story centers around a strong protagonist called Shirin (pronounced Sheereen) who falls in love almost as deeply with an island as with the man who inhabits it.
"It is a wonderful picture of an unusual woman that the writer has produced in this distinguished work. There are three other people in the book whose minds and souls are dissected minutely and whose visual characteristics are splashed on the canvas of the novel in vivid and arresting colors; but Shirin is depicted, as far as any personality can be, in her essence. To come so near to the thought that motivates a fellow-creature can only happen, in literature, when an author and subject are joined in perfect sympathy."
I'm afraid I've cut off the map that's opposite the title page, but the wild coast of savage austerity is where the Wilson family took their vacations. How's this for an opener:
"Mr. and Mrs. Wilson too their children away every year to the same place for their summer holiday. That habit began the trouble which ended in two persons losing their lives and in one criminal receiving an expression of sympathy from the coroner instead of a death sentence from the judge."
It makes me want to read on, and I might just do so. Also on hand by Vita I have The Edwardians, All Passion Spent, Family History and The Heir. I have a feeling I might like her very much, and now I just need to squeeze one of her books into my reading pile. Considering just what a difficult time I'm having with my reading at the moment, one of these might actually be just what I need right now.