Viviane Forrester (1925-2013) was a writer, essayist, novelist, and literary critic. She worked for Le Monde, Le Nouvel Observateur, and Quinzaine littéraire and was a member of the jury of the Prix Femina. She translated Virginia Woolf's essay "Three Guineas" and is the author of The Economic Horror, Van Gogh ou l'Enterrement dans les blés, and Une etrange dictature. Jody Gladding is a poet who has translated some thirty works from French.

Drawn with psychological subtlety, critical sophistication, and the novelist's art. Forrester's portrait of Woolf combines journalistic freedom and liveliness with deep research, original analysis, and lively, deft, poetic prose interspersed with fragments, notes, impressions, questions. A welcome and provocative contribution to our understanding of Woolf's life and work. -- Christine Froula, author of Virginia Woolf and the Bloomsbury Avant-Garde

Part 1Part 2Part 3Part 4Part 5AbbreviationsNotesWorks CitedIndex

Winner of the prestigious Prix Goncourt award for biography, this remarkable portrait sheds new light on Virginia Woolf's relationships with her family and friends and how they shaped her work. Forrester's biography draws on revelations about the author that often remain buried and carefully applies them to a narrative of her development and influence. Virginia Woolf: A Portrait blends recently unearthed documents, key primary sources, and personal interviews with Woolf's relatives and other acquaintances to render in unmatched detail the author's complicated relationship with her husband, her father, and her half-sister, . Forrester connects these figures to Woolf's mental breakdown while introducing the concept of "Virginia seule," : an uncommon paragon of female strength and conviction. Forrester's biography inhabits her characters and vivifies their perspective, weaving a colorful, intense drama that forces readers to rethink their understanding of Woolf and her world.