Between The Sheets: Nine 20th Century Women Writers and Their Famous Literary Partnerships

By Lesley McDowell

Why did a gifted writer like Sylvia Plath stumble into a marriage that drove her to suicide? Why did Hilda Doolittle want to marry Ezra Pound when she was attracted to women? Why did Simone de Beauvoir pimp for Jean-Paul Sartre? The list of the damages done in each of these sexual relationships is long, but each provokes the same question: would these women have become the writers they became without these literary relationships?

Incorporating research using diaries, letters, and journals, Lesley McDowell examines the extent to which each woman was prepared to put artistic ambition before personal happiness, and how dependent on their male writing partners they felt themselves to be. Fascinating and insightful, Between the Sheets is a marvelous read and an invaluable addition to the literature of feminism.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Penguin Group
• Release date: Feb 28, 2012
• ISBN: 9781468301410

Lesley McDowell

Lesley McDowell is a literary critic for The Herald, The Scotsman and The Independent on Sunday. Her first novel was The Picnic (2007). Her second book, Between the Sheets: The Literary Liaisons of Nine 20th-Century Women Writers, was shortlisted for the non-fiction prize in the 2011 Scottish Book Awards.

Reviews for Between The Sheets

[winonabaines · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

started to read - skimmed through it - just didn't hold my attention