A novelist, critic, biographer, travel writer, and investigative journalist, Rebecca West had a keen eye for conflict, and a razor tongue for battle. Called "George Bernard Shaw in skirts" by pundits, she was a woman both feted for her achievements and feared for her cutting wit - "With malice toward all" was her motto, and her barbs are legend.

Yet her vitriol was a mask for the pain she spent her life trying to escape. Born Cicily Fairfield to a ne'er-do-well, sexually abusive father and an emotionally fragile mother, she took the name Rebecca West from a strong-willed character in an Ibsen play, and thus began the remarkable process of reinvention that would culminate in her being named Dame of the British Empire at the peak of her career. West's first great love was H. G.

Wells, with whom she had a son out of wedlock; her stormy relationship with both father and son would plague her throughout her life. She traveled around the world for her writing, and her fame, beauty and wit drew men to her wherever she went. She left behind a notable train in her wake, including the likes of Wells, Lord Beaverbrook, and Charlie Chaplin.

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Drawing upon a wealth of never-before-seen archival material and interviews with family and friends, authorized biographer Carl Rollyson has re-created this singular life with compassion, animation, and rare insight. He has plumbed deeply, to the truth behind Dame West's outrageous reputation, and - a harder feat - he has taken the first full measure of her dazzling range of accomplishments.

At last, one of this century's most gifted and colorful writers has been given the biography she so richly deserves.