Dangerous Muse: A Life of Caroline Blackwood - Tapa blanda

Caroline Blackwood was a journalist and novelist. She was born into the Guinness family in 1931 and was on intimate terms with some of the most celebrated artists of her time. Her first husband was the painter Lucian Freud, her second the composer Israel Citkowitz, and her third the poet Robert Lowell. Caroline's marriage to Lucian Freud caused a great stir in English society; Caroline and Lucian became part of an artistic and literary group that included Francis Bacon and Cyril Connolly, but eventually Freud's drinking and gambling became too much and she left him. Her most trying times, however, were during her marriage to Lowell, who suffered from paranoia and acute depression. Caroline published her first novel at the age of thirty-eight: THE STEPDAUGHTER. Her most successful book, GREAT GRANNY WEBSTER, was shortlisted for the Booker Prize. In all, she wrote ten books of fiction and non-fiction.

Nancy Schoenberger is Professor of English at the College of William and Mary in Virginia.