What was not always obvious was that much of her extraordinary energy drew its power from an underlying anger – sometimes explosive on behalf of a cause, or a righting of what she saw as an injustice, sometimes a slow-burning resentment that simmered below the surface, as in her relationship with her mother. Harold Acton believed that she had inspired half the poets and novelists of the Twenties. Osbert Sitwell talked of her ‘ineffable charm and distinction of mind’ Alannah Harper thought that ‘whatever she did – however violent – Nancy always looked more distinguished than other people’. Around her shimmered a force field of energy that drew people in, often influencing them in ways they could hardly have credited before they had met her. Her personality was equally extraordinary. Although in photographs she is usually seen with unflatteringly pursed lips, her looks were something commented on by everyone who met her, with her huge blue-green eyes, emphasised by their circles of kohl, invariably remarked upon. Whatever one thought of Nancy Cunard, it was impossible to ignore her – her beauty alone would have seen to that.
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