For readers unfamiliar with her subject, Maryanne Raphael’s biography, Anais Nin, The Voyage Within, is a sensitive, uncomplicated introduction to the life and work of one of the 20th century’s most quintessentially feminine artists. For Nin devotees, the biography is a refresher course taking us back through the vast material of the Diaries and novels that enchanted and inspired our love. Raphael accepts Nin entirely on her own terms. Thanks to a warm, personal relationship with Rupert Pole, Nin’s surviving husband and executor of her estate, Raphael opens up some of the mystery that has heitherto surrounded Nin’s relationship with her husbands–an aspect of Nin’s life that was never explicitly described in the original Diaries. The result is a multi-dimensional portrait in which Nin’s two selves, artist and woman are fully integrated. Nin the woman consciously chooses to realize female desire, give form to female imagination, always loving as she remains completely focused on birthing a new unabashadly feminine literature. Thank you, Maryanne! Dolores Brandon, Author of IN THE SHADOW OF MADNESS, A Memoir.