A Very Easy Death

‘The mother of 20th-century feminism.’ — Joanna Biggs, London Review of Books ‘True and deeply moving.’ — Annie Ernaux, author of Getting Lost  ‘In every decade of my life since my 20s, I have been awed, confused, intrigued and inspired by Simone de Beauvoir’s attempt to live with meaning, pleasure and purpose.’ — Deborah Levy, author of Real Estate  ‘It was Alice Walker, Hélène Cixous, Angela Davis, Virginia Woolf, George Eliot, and Simone Weil and de Beauvoir who mattered most to me.’ — Zadie Smith, author of NW  ‘Beauvoir’s graciously written memoirs carry distinct appeal in recording the emotional and intellectual birth pangs of a fascinating woman.’ — Time  ‘This book is written with restrained emotion and a literalness, a faithfulness to fact, that is very moving coming from a woman whom we have known as dedicated to abstractions. ... it illustrates the general tragedy of the human condition through a particularized instance. A book of near despair, yet dignified. — Library Journal