Alone! Alone!: Lives of Some Outsider Women (New York Review Books Collections)

In the 30 years she has spent writing about psychology, child development, biography, and fiction, Rosemary Dinnage has examined a variety of odd and accomplished women, all of whom in one way or another lived their lives apart from their contemporaries. Here are solitary figures like Gwen John, Simone Weil, and Barbara Pym; muses and partners of dominant men, like Clementine Churchill and Giuseppina Verdi; survivors such as Isak Dinesen, Doris Lessing, and Rebecca West; and other extraordinary talents including writers Katherine Mansfield, Iris Murdoch, and Anita Brookner. These portraits of extraordinary women who lived on the edges of their societies will appeal to anyone interested in the lives of fascinating and often forgotten women.