Edna St. Vincent Millay was born in Maine in 1892. Her mother divorced her father due to domestic abuse, and she moved around with her and her siblings. She won several awards for her poetry throughout her childhood. She attended Vassar College, enrolling in 1913. She moved to New York, where she became a founding member of the Cherry Lane Theatre. She wrote articles for magazines (under a false name) to bring in some income. She became involved in social, political, and feminist activism. She began publishing her poetry and really making a name for herself as a serious and accomplished professional poet. She died in 1950, after having fallen down the stairs and broken her neck. A doctor decided a heart attack was the reason for her fall.

This book was really good. Nancy Milford was granted access to Millay's private papers by Millay's surviving sister. She felt that Milford had done a very respectable job on Zelda Fitzgerald and thought that she would do her sister justice. The facts about her life were communicated thoroughly and efficiently, but the book was not boring. I didn't know she wrote one about Zelda, so now I need to find that one and read it. Pick this up if you are a Millay fan.