by Jean Rhys

Born in 1890 in Roseau, Dominica, the West Indies, Jean Rhys was of mixed parentage. Her father, Dr. William Rhys, was a Welshman, and her mother, Minna Williams, was a Creole. In 1907, Rhys left Dominica to attend the Perse School in Cambridge, England, but spent only one term there; the following year, she entered the Academy of Dramatic Art to study acting, but left to join a chorus line. In 1919, after a sporadic theatrical career and several failed relationships, Rhys left England to marry Jean Lenglet, a French-Dutch songwriter and journalist; the pair lived on the European Continent. In 1923, however, Lenglet was arrested on a charge of illegal entry into France and extradited to Holland. Rhys returned to England alone, where she began a career as a writer, publishing her first book, The Left Bank and Other Stories (1927). More works followed: the...