The daughter of a court intellectual, Christine de Pizan dwelled within the heart of late-medieval Paris. In the face of personal tragedy, she learned the tools of the booktrade, writing more than 40 works including poetry, historical and political treatises and defenses of women.

In this new biography, the first written for a general audience, Charlotte Cooper-Davis discusses the life and work of a pioneering female thinker and writer. She shows how Christine’s inspiration came from the world around her, situates Christine as an entrepreneur within the context of her times and place, and finally examines Christine’s influence on the most avant-garde of feminist artists, through which she is slowly making a return into mainstream popular culture.