Antonia White: 2diaries 1926-1957

Neither three marriages nor numerous love affairs gave Antonia White (1899-1990), the British writer and sometime actress, a clue to what men were about. Nor did an impassioned relationship with another woman bring her peace. Haunted by a fear of having to repeat a nightmarish or was it just a nightmare, not a real stay? if so, stet experience in a mental institution, she sought self-understanding in psychoanalysis and alternately rejected and embraced the Catholic Church. A successful advertising executive? , White thought of herself as a writer who started books but could never finish them, yet she published the much-praised autobiographical novel Frost In May in 1933, and followed up with several others, which were not as well received. She felt she lacked proper maternal instincts, but she raised two daughters (one born out of wedlock). With grace and honesty, White kept a journal for 30 years. Here her daughter-editor has selected revealing and attractive snatches of it and supplied continuities, but these random snapshots would best complement a full biography or revived interest in White's work. Photos not seen by PW. (June)