A noted biographer and poet illuminates the unique woman who wrote the greatest American love poetry of the twentieth century.

This is the story of a rare sort of American genius who grew up in grinding poverty in Camden, Maine. Nothing could save the sensitive child but her talent for words, music, and drama, and an inexorable desire to be loved. When she was twenty, her poetry would make her famous; at thirty she would be adored by readers the world over.

Edna St. Vincent Millay was widely considered to be the most seductive woman of her age. Few men could resist her, and many women also fell under her spell. From the publication of her first poems until the scandal over Fatal Interview twenty years later, gossip about the poet?s liberated lifestyle prompted speculation about who might be the real subject of her verses.

Using letters, diaries, and journals of the poet and her lovers that have only recently become available, Daniel Mark Epstein tells the astonishing story of the life, dedicated to art and love, that inspired the sublime lyrics of Edna St. Vincent Millay.

"This volume...is less a biography of the great seductress than an imaginative reconstruction of her amorous adventures. As such, it reads like a literary novel with a racy streak. Some may argue that Epstein goes too far in the fictional coloring of his heroine, particularly in the early parts of the book, where he refers to one of America's greatest lyric poets as 'the little sorceress' and 'the little actress.' Still, Epstein's telling of the poet's progress makes for gripping narrative and will satisfy readers interested in Millay's romantic image and sources of inspiration." Publishers Weekly

"[Epstein] writes with acuity and grace about the young Millay's determination, yearnings, and intellectual spirituality...smart, stirring, and invaluable." Booklist

"Well researched and briskly narrated." Judith Thurman, The New Yorker

"Epstein...is a more acute analyst of Millay's verse, and is gifted with sudden, empathic bursts of insight." Penelope Mesic, Book Magazine

This is the story of a rare sort of American genius who grew up in grinding poverty in Camden, Maine. Nothing could save the sensitive child but her talent for words, music, and drama, and an inexorable desire to be loved. When she was twenty, her poetry would make her famous; at thirty she would be adored by readers the world over.

Edna St. Vincent Millay was widely considered to be the most seductive woman of her age. Few men could resist her, and many women also fell under her spell. From the publication of her first poems until the scandal over Fatal Interview twenty years later, gossip about the poet's liberated lifestyle prompted speculation about who might be the real subject of her verses.

Using letters, diaries, and journals of the poet and her lovers that have only recently become available, Daniel Mark Epstein tells the astonishing story of the life, dedicated to art and love, that inspired the sublime lyrics of Edna St. Vincent Millay.

Daniel Mark Epstein is an award-winning essayist, poet, playwright, translator, biographer, and musician. He?s won the Prix de Rome, received a Guggenheim Fellowship, and been anthologized in several collections of essays and poetry. His books include biographies of Aimee Semple McPherson and Nat King Cole, and seven volumes of poetry. He lives in Baltimore, Maryland.