I had never heard of Virginia Faulkner until reading this book -and I am so glad I learned about her! By way of background, she grew up in Lincoln, Nebraska and ended up returning to work at the University there. Her grandfather joined the Modern Woodman - a mutual aid, fraternal organization and was instrumental in starting the Insurance company associated with this organization. I was intrigued by this because I went to a Woodman's hall in Wisconsin and learned about its history and hazing! There were beautiful murals on the walls showing scenes of the fraternal organization. She was a tomboy growing up and advanced in school. When she was in High School, her mother got sick with cancer. This took a toll on her mental health and she struggled with dark moods and self medication with alcohol. She was institutionalized a few times in adulthood. Writing became an outlet for her and she wrote for the school newspaper. She started rebelling (Flapper, smoking) and her father sent her to Rome for finishing school. Unfortunately her father was anxious for her return but he died before she could get home. She went to Radcliffe and modeled herself after Radclyffe Hall, a lesbian author who wrote "The Well of Loneliness." She went on to write books and write for magazines (Adventures of Princess Tulip). She met Tallulah Bankhead (who also was a drinker and loved women). She went to Hollywood to write "snappy dialogue" but she was bored and ultimately ended up back in Lincoln, Nebraska with her brother's help who became President of Woodman's Accident insurance at age 27 when their Uncle died. She fell in love with a few woman (one was married) and the other became her life partner. She edited an autobiography of Polly Adler (the NY Madam), and researched and published works on Willa Cather, helping lead to her "rediscovery." Overall, I was so impressed with her talent and the integral and important role she played in publishing.

Thank you to Netgalley and University of Nebraska Press for an ARC and I voluntarily left this review.

I didn’t know anything about Virginia Faulkner, but when I saw that she was involved with Willa Cathers’ work, I knew I wanted to read this book. It’s interesting to read about women who live their life in their own way despite the norms of the time and she certainly did that. Her life had its challenges. I thought I would only be interested in the part regarding Willa Cather, but I found the entire book hard to put down.

Thank you to the author, University of Nebraska Press | Bison Books, and NetGalley for the Advanced Reader Copy (ARC) copy of this book and I am voluntarily leaving an honest review.

I learned a lot reading this book. I was not familiar with Virginia Faulkner. The biography traces her life as an author and then as an editor and as an advocate for Nebraska authors, most notably Willa Cather. The book is well written and researched. Photographs also accompany the text. It was an informative easy read.