About the Author

Dame Rebecca West (1892–1983) has been called "the world's number one woman writer," "the greatest woman since Elizabeth I," and "a strong contender for woman of the century." She was a fiery suffragette and socialist in her youth and by her 30s she was a world-famous journalist and political analyst as well as a distinguished novelist.

During her long, prolific career she associated with the 20th century's most important thinkers and writers. West's works include the magisterial history and travelogue of Yugoslavia, Black Lamb and Grey Falcon; studies of the Nuremberg trials and World War II British traitors in A Train of Powder and The Meaning of Treason; the modernist World War I masterpiece The Return of the Soldier; and the autobiographical Aubrey family novels, a trilogy subtitled "A Saga of the Century" – The Fountain Overflows, This Real Night, and Cousin Rosamund.