A spellbinding memoir of a writing life 'I've been writing for most of my life, with hardly a pause, as if my survival depended on the process, which I suppose in a way it did.' Three islands, two abandoned houses, a remote mountain village; Napoleon in exile, old man Goya, Billie Holiday's friends and lovers: Julia Blackburn's writing has always moved freely across time and terrain, drawing her life and work into intimate conversation. In A Writing Woman , Blackburn reflects on a life shaped by books but also by places, friendships and fleeting encounters. With tenderness and unsparing candour, she tells of loves and losses, illness, ageing and building a home, assembling scenes from past and present that have made indelible marks on her life and writing. Above all, we see the sustaining power of her curiosity and attention - to art, to nature, to other living beings. A Writing Woman is the story of a life lived in writing and confirms Blackburn as one of the most intriguing and original writers working today. PRAISE FOR JULIA BLACKBURN '[Her] writing of history and memory - both personal and public - are so deft as to seem effortless' Spectator 'An astounding, disarming book, full of grief and beauty' Olivia Laing (on Dreaming the Karoo) 'Blackburn's wise, wonderfully idiosyncratic books are poetic, informed by a drily downbeat humour and genius for serendipity' New Statesman 'A wonderful book. It made me deeply grateful that I am alive' Max Porter (on Time Song ).