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Biographer Anna Thomasson gives a moving account of a remarkable relationship that began between 52-year-old Edith Olivier and 19-year-old artist Rex Whistler. In 1924, Olivier was alone and thought her life was at an end while Whistler was just embarking on his. They developed an intimate friendship that opened up Olivier’s life, leading to her becoming a writer, while her home became a sanctuary for Whistler and other gifted young talents of his generation including Siegfried Sassoon, Stephen Tennant, William Walton, John Betjeman, the Sitwells and Cecil Beaton. Thomasson tells a story that captures the mad parties of the 20s, the sophistication of the 30s and the drama and austerity of the Second World War.

Thomasson studied for an M Phil in biography at the University of Buckingham and her thesis was shortlisted for the Daily Mail Biographers’ Club Prize.