Hermione Lee sees Virginia Woolf afresh

In her historical setting and as a vital figure for our times, her book moves freely between a richly detailed life-story and new attempts to understand crucial questions - the impact of her childhood, the cause and nature of her madness and suicide, the truth about her marriage, her feelings for women, her prejudices and obsessions.

A vivid, close-up portrait

Returning to primary sources, and showing Woolf as occupying a distinct, even uneasy position with ''Bloomsbury''. It is a writer's life, illustrating how the concerns of her work arise and develop, and a political life, which establishes Woolf as a radically sceptical, subversive, courageous feminist.

A revealing biography

Incorporating newly discovered sources and illustrated with photos and drawings never used before, this biography is a revelation - informed, intelligent and moving.