An unwanted ugly duckling of a child whose ambition was to be a genius, Edith Sitwell grew up to be the High Priestess of twentieth-century English poetry. The superb theatricality of her appearance and the forceful eccentricity of her behaviour endeared her to the public at large, while her innovative post-Georgian poetry, her forthright literary criticism and her encouragement of such major talents as Wilfred Owen and Dylan Thomas won her the respect and the acclaim of the literary world.

In this lavishly illustrated pictorial biography, Elizabeth Salter, Dame Edith's private secretary and close companion during the last years of her life, captures the spirit of this truly remarkable woman, who, with her brothers, Osbert and Sacheverell, formed a celebrated and redoubtable literary triumvirate. From the loneliness and isolation of Edith Sitwell's early years at her family home, Renishaw, through her emotional development as a writer in London, Paris and New York to the ultimate confirmation of her stature as a major poet, Miss Salter illuminates a unique personality, profoundly kind and essentially uncomplicated, who never failed to arouse strong feelings. Over 110 photographs, many published here for the first time, not only document Edith Sitwell's world but also provide a fascinating record of the evolution of one of the twentieth century's most characterful and instantly recognizable faces. Extracts from her writings and conversations provide most of the captions for this remarkable collection of illustrations, and from these and from Elizabeth Salter's uniquely personal account, Dame Edith's very human figure, her love of the musical rhythms of the English language, her horror of violence and her growing religious insistence on 'Ultimate Good', all emerge from behind her own facade.