[HERmione] is remarkably engaging. Completed in 1927 at the height of the modernist period, the novel has a surprisingly contemporary ring. Its vitality, arising in part from H. D.'s experience, depends upon the bisexual nature of the relationships involved and the emergence of the protagonist as an artist. (pp. 93-4)

[The] sensitive nature of the novel's content prevented its publication during the lifetime of the principals…. Though all of H. D.'s work contains deeply personal material, careful encoding and a willingness to risk exposure allowed her to publish much of it during her lifetime. Not so with HERmione….

By its very nature H. D.'s poetry, especially the later mythical works, allowed privacy, but her prose, even the most guarded, created something of a problem. Much of the early prose remains in manuscript form. However, she released two novels soon after finishing them: Palimpsest (1926), the story of...