The Extraordinary Life of Rebecca West: A Biography - Hardcover

Lorna Gibb holds a Ph.D. from the University of Edinburgh. She is currently Visiting Research Fellow in History at Essex University. She lives in London. Her biography of Lady Hester Stanhope, Lady Hester, was published to great acclaim in 2005.

"It's especially impressive that Gibb manages to chronicle West's often complicated life in an even-handed, coherent way. Fast-paced and well-researched, The Extraordinary Life of Rebecca West is a fine biography of a writer whose life and career was full of fascinating contradictions and intersections." NPR Books

"Gibb skirts neither her subject's faults nor her virtues, but closely tracks West's trajectory. As in a low-angle, over-the-shoulder shot, we seem close to West, viewing the world from her point of view, while also focusing the camera's eye on the world at large." The New Criterion

"This biography is fast-paced and written with sympathy for Cicely" The Missourian

"A new biography of Rebecca West details the private battles of one of the most renowned journalists of the 20th century." Star Tribune

"West was a woman of 'surprising contradictions,' and this biography captures them all without losing sight of the very real person in whom they resided." Washington Post

"Gibb’s meticulous biography, [...] concentrates [...] on her magnetic subject’s complex personality and all the drama and controversy that make West’s life truly extraordinary.” Booklist

"Lorna Gibb paints a vivid portrait in her compact new biography, The Extraordinary Life of Rebecca West. Her engaging book has had the benefit of greater access to West’s letters and papers afforded since Anthony’s death in 1987, just four years after his mother. " Barnes & Noble Review

"...as Gibb reminds us, West's work deserves to be remembered and appreciated in its own right." National Geographic

Praise for the UK Edition of West's World:

" it presents with discerning succinctness, a sharply etched portrait of a true original Cissie Fairfield remained alive and well inside her alter ego, to judge from Lorna Gibb's brisk and affectionate biography." The Sunday Times

"This riveting book is not a typical literary biography Lorna Gibb may have read all of Rebecca West's vast output, but she does not flaunt it Miss Gibb wisely leaves it to others to appraise her subject as a writer. What she does is to tell a gripping story of a woman's life " Country Life

" in this calm, well researched biography she does an excellent job of reminding us why West was so ahead of her time." The Mail

" Lorna Gibb makes the most of the reams of papers that West and her many friends and acquaintances produced." Literary Review