In the strange, beguiling novels of mid-century writer Barbara Comyns, girls levitate and ducks swim through drawing rooms, while her own colourful life included a friendship with spy Kim Philby, and her talents were championed by Graham Greene. Might a new biography finally secure her place in the literary canon, asks Jessie Thompson
On February 14 1998, the ballerina Deborah Bull wrote in her diary: “I rush down to the front door to check the post”. The results were disappointing. “No deluge of Valentine cards”, she noted, adding hopefully, “unless they had all gone to the Opera House”. Six years later, in 2004, Oona King MP spent Valentine’s Day in a rather different way: “I’m sitting on a runway in Saudi Arabia. I’m not supposed to be here. Bangladesh Airlines – Biman – took a wrong turn …”