Quentin was the son of Clive Bell, who was husband of Vanessa and brother- in-law of Virginia Woolf. He, died recently in his late eighties, though the blurb does not mention the fact, and this hook, as a product of his green old age, is rather episodic and garrulous though interesting throughout.they have become one of the inescapable bores of contemporary biography and literary criticism. Quentin Bell, however, comes over as unpretentious and likeable rather than precious, and while he does linger over his anecdotes occasionally, they are usually worth the hearing.
Virginia and Leonard, his own father and mother, Keynes, Strachey and the rest are all here, as well as numerous other, relatives and outriders of the circle. One illuminating incident describes hi5 long-sought-for meeting with Matisse, which was deeply disillusioning because Matisse, besides being utterly bourgeois in manner and appearance, talked about anything but himself and his painting.