Five Love Affairs and a Friendship: The Paris Life of Nancy Cunard, Icon of the Jazz Age

Nancy Cunard was a Jazz Age icon who rebelled against expectations and pursued a life in the arts, becoming a muse to Wyndham Lewis, Constantin Brâncusi, Man Ray, and Ernest Hemingway. She had many love affairs, including Ezra Pound, Aldous Huxley, Michael Arlen, Louis Aragon, and Henry Crowder, and was shaped by her lifelong friendship with George Moore.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 336 pages
Publication date: 27 April 2023
Publisher: Orion Publishing Co

Dazzlingly beautiful, highly intelligent, and an extraordinary force of energy, Nancy Cunard was an icon of the Jazz Age, said to have inspired half the poets and novelists of the twenties. Born into a life of wealth and privilege, yet one in which she barely saw her parents, Nancy rebelled against expectations and pursued a life in the arts. She sought the constant company of artists, writers, poets, and painters, first in London's Soho and Mayfair, and then in the glamorous cafes of 1920s Paris.

This is the remarkable story of Nancy's Paris life, filled with art, sex, and alcohol. She became a muse to Wyndham Lewis, Constantin Brâncusi sculpted her, Man Ray photographed her, and she played tennis with Ernest Hemingway. She had many love affairs, the most significant of which are included in this book: the American poet Ezra Pound, the novelists Aldous Huxley and Michael Arlen, the French poet Louis Aragon, and finally, and controversially, the black American pianist Henry Crowder, with whom she ran her printing press in Paris. She was also shaped by her lifelong friendship with George Moore, her mother's lover.

This tempestuous tale of passion and intrigue is as much a portrait of twenties Paris as it is the story of an extraordinary woman who defined her age.

Weight: 280g
Dimension: 129 x 198 x 25 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781474617437