Virginia Woolf's Upstairs/Downstairs
by Liberry Shortstack
Mrs. Woolf and the Servants, Alison Light's look into the relationship between Virginia Woolf and her servants, creates a window into life at the Woolf residence. The biographical sketch focuses on two servants in particular, Nellie Boxall and Lottie Hope, who primarily worked in the kitchen. Light's portrait of Virginia Woolf's domestic kingdom highlights the divisions that starkly separated Woolf from those she employed, emphasizing that without domestic servants, Woolf would have been unable to produce her creative works. A Room of One's Own is not enough; one also needs a lot of help to clean the room.
To read Claire Messud's review from the New York Times, click here.
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