Winner of the National Book Award
A brilliant literary portrait, Isak Dinesen remains the only comprehensive biography of one of the greatest storytellers of our time. Her magnificent memoir, Out of Africa, established Isak Dinesen as a major twentieth-century author, who was twice nominated for the Nobel Prize.
With exceptional grace, Judith Thurman's classic work explores Dinesen's life. Until the appearance of this book, the life and art of Isak Dinesen have been--as Dinesen herself wrote of two lovers in a tale-- "a pair of locked caskets, each containing the key to the other." Judith Thurman has provided the master key to them both.
“This, like the best biographies, is a book in which the reader can live.” —Margaret Drabble, The New York Times Book Review
“Splendid, inestimably valuable . . . I cannot imagine that it will be supplanted. Right now it is the essential book on Isak Dinesen.” —Chicago Tribune Book World
“Absorbing biography . . . This is a gothic tale worthy of the author of Seven Gothic Tales.” —Victoria Glendinning, The Washington Post Book World