In the Shadow of Greatness: Denial of Self to Serve the Genius of the Other

Despite the title's sexist undertones, this book addresses some intriguing aspects of some of history's unknown heroines. The author, a mail carrier in Australia and a Fulbright scholar who speaks five languages, focuses on five women: Isabel Burton (wife of Sir Richard Burton), Maria Nhys (wife of Aldous Huxley), Francoise Gilot (lover of Pablo Picasso), Helen Dukas (employee of Albert Einstein) and Vera Slonim (wife of Vladimir Nabokov). In flowery prose (these women were""nurtured by the fierce light of genius""), Menager tells, for example, how Isabel Burton decided to burn her husband's papers, why Maria Nhys arranged extramarital affairs for her husband, and what made Gilot finally leave Picasso. It's an unusual and fairly specific way to approach biography, but may be of interest to readers captivated by the relationships between men and women in history.