Eliot Bliss (12 June 1903 – 10 December 1990)[1][2] was a Jamaican-born English novelist and poet of Anglo-Irish descent, whose literary friendships encompassed Anna Wickham, Dorothy Richardson, Jean Rhys, Romer Wilson and Vita Sackville-West.
[3][6] Her first novel, Saraband, was published in 1931 with the help of Patience Ross, a poet and literary agent who would become Bliss' friend and lover.
Saraband (1931, reissued 1986) features Louie, a sensitive girl from a genteel family conscious of her inability to do anything of note, unlike her violinist cousin.
"[6] However, family financial problems force her to train as a typist, making her "afraid of turning into a machine," but she eventually recognizes the creativity in herself and begins to write.
Saraband was received positively by critics, with William Morrow describing it as a "first novel of unusual power" and Harold Nicolson praising Bliss' "quality of reserve" in the Daily Express.
[3] As a recent critic has pointed out, "The underlying homosexuality of the characters is never spelled out; it remains unuttered, and the intricate implications of the relationships... are never fully explained."