Iris Origo

About this book

"Iris Origo was one of those rare characters who, despite being born with a platinum spoon in her mouth, went on to accomplish great things. In Origo's case, she managed to add light and colour to everything she touched, leaving for posterity a body of work - biography, autobiography and literary criticism - that has become recognized as a model of its kind.". "She was born a Cutting, a wealthy and long-established Long Island family, but her talented and beloved father (who resembled, more than a little, a character right out of Henry James) died of consumption when she was only seven. She spent the following years travelling the world with her self-centered and eccentric mother and an extensive entourage, settling finally at the Villa Medici at Fiesole. There she was introduced to the privileged world of wealthy Anglo-Florentine expatriates, a volatile community that included the Berensons, Harold Acton, Janet Ross and Edith Wharton, and whose petty bickering, and pettier politics, had a profound influence on her values and on how she spent her life.". "Her marriage to Antonio Origo, a wealthy landowner and sportsman, was as much a reaction against this insular world as it was a surprise to her family and friends. Together they purchased, and single-handedly revived, an extensive, arid valley in Tuscany called Val d'Orcia, rebuilding the farmsteads and the manor-house. Although dearly sympathetic to Mussolini's land use policies, they sided with the Allies during World War II, taking considerable risks in protecting children, sheltering partisans, and repatriating All…

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