Staff review This book is a real treat. Written by one of the world’s great writers, about two of the twentieth century’s most intriguing literary fi gures, (modernist master Gertrude Stein and ‘worker bee’ Alice B. Toklas), it is both intriguing and immaculately executed. The design, too, is impeccable. It is one of those books that it is a pleasure to hold and to browse – everything from the textured feel of the cover and pages to the striking Cecil Beaton cover image. Malcolm looks at the relationship between the celebrated pair and analyses Stein’s prolific output and Toklas’s cult classic cookbook in forensic detail, in search of biographical clues. She also interviews Stein scholars and second-degree acquaintances. Th e focus of the book, though, is how ‘the pair of elderly Jewish lesbians survived the Nazis’ in occupied France. Th e conclusion is: through both some dubious connections and the protectiveness of locals. Malcolm’s inspired analysis of some of Stein’s most impenetrable writing provides new clues to her life and work, and to the importance of the devoted Alice B. Toklas to both. *Jo Case is Editor of Readings Monthly* A biography of two of the most interesting literary women to emerge in the early 20th century. Gertrude Stein, American-born, moved to France at the age of 28, where she met her life long partner, Alice B Toklas. Stein was a great art collector and was most interested in modernist art and artists as well as writers and befriended and held salons with Ernest Hemingway, Ezra Pound and Sherwood Anderson among the guests. She died in 1946 and posthumously published more than 23 works across poetry, plays, screenplays and novels.