Book excerpt: This first critical assessment of Kay Boyle's long career is both a portrait of the artists and a perceptive appraisal of her work. Boyle has lent her cooperation and support to Spanier's efforts to gather biographical material. Particularly enriching for this study were several meetings and extensive correspondence between author and critic. Spanier draws on hundreds of pages of letters containing a wealth of new information about Boyle's life, works, literary relationships, and current activities. Boyle has provided Spanier with unpublished documents and works in progress, yellowed news clippings and book reviews, and detailed notes in which she reacted to this work. Balancing her role of biographer and critic, Spanier has created a vital, perceptive, and integrated study of the life and work of a remarkable woman. -- From publisher's description.