Originally published in 1952, this memoir covers Violet Trefusis's aristocratic Edwardian childhood, her entry into Parisian artistic and literary circles and her return to England during the war, ending with her mother's death in 1947. An introduction has been commissioned from Peter Quennell to fill out areas of Violet's life not touched on in this book, for example the fact that her mother Alice Keppel was the acknowledged mistress of Edward VII and Violet's lesbian affair with Vita Sackville-West.