"A sensitive study of a life that was in many respects ahead of its time."--Human Rights Quarterly "Berkman's intellectual biography of this complicated woman [provides] us with not only a study of her ideas, which she bequeathed to posterity, but also with an intriguing look at her secret life she wished to remain hidden."--Quarterly Journal of British Studies "In her attention to the many different sides of Schreiner's work, Berkman has given us a fuller look at both Olive Schreiner and the social, political, and intellectual contexts in which she wrote."--Victorian Studies "Berkman's study of Schreiner's writing and thought makes clear the relevance of her work for present-day feminists, as well as those of two decades ago and Schreiner's contemporaries."--American Historical Review "A sympathetic, detailed, and acute account of Schreiner's unremitting and productive effort to live seriously and significantly as what we would now call a feminist theorist: a woman who took responsibility both for the meaning of her own life and for the interpretation and future of her world."--Modern Fiction Studies "Berkman probes Schreiner's life in exquisite detail; her considerable effort has yielded a rich, complex portrait of an amazing woman."--New Directions for Women.