Gertrude Stein

From the celebrated author of Square Haunting comes a biography as unconventional and surprising as the life it tells.

'Think of the Bible and Homer, think of Shakespeare and think of me,' wrote Gertrude Stein in 1936. Admirers called her a genius, sceptics a charlatan: she remains one of the most confounding - and contested - writers of the twentieth century.

In this literary detective story, Francesca Wade delves into the creation of the Stein myth. We see her posing for Picasso's portrait; at the centre of Bohemian Parisian life hosting the likes of Matisse and Hemingway; racing through the French countryside with her enigmatic companion Alice B. Toklas; dazzling American crowds on her sell-out tour for her sensational Autobiography - a veritable celebrity.

Yet Stein hoped to be remembered not for her personality but for her work. From her deathbed, she charged her partner with securing her place in literary history. How would her legend shift once it was Toklas's turn to tell the stories - especially when uncomfortable aspects of their past emerged from the archive? Using astonishing never-before-seen material, Wade uncovers the origins of Stein's radical writing, and reveals new depths to the storied relationship which made it possible.

This is Gertrude Stein as she was when nobody was watching: captivating, complex and human.

'Endlessly interesting, unshowy, tightly argued and large-hearted.', Guardian (on SQUARE HAUNTING) 'It is a pleasure to fall into step with the eloquent, elegant Wade . . . I would give a copy to every young woman graduating from university and wonder-ing who and how to be . . . There is much to inspire.', The Times (on SQUARE HAUNTING)

Francesca Wade’s first book, Square Haunting, was longlisted for the Baillie Gifford Prize and shortlisted for the RSL Ondaatje Prize. She has held fellowships at the New York Public Library's Cullman Center and the Harvard Radcliffe Institute. Her work has appeared in The New York Review of Books, London Review of Books and Granta, among other places.