Barbara Hanrahan wrote: ‘It is a struggle … to be me … to accept ME, and my spiritual purpose.’

This authoritative biography illuminates the life of a great Australian writer and artist. The story starts with Barbara Hanrahan’s childhood in Adelaide, travels with her to ‘swinging London’ of the 1960s, and recounts her remarkable achievements in Britain and Australia in the following decades. Like the artists she most admired - among them, William Blake, Frida Kahlo and D.H. Lawrence - Barbara Hanrahan dedicated herself uncompromisingly to the life of the mind and spirit, producing a body of work that remains challenging and rewarding.

Annette Stewart has drawn on a wealth of unpublished material, including the artist’s letters, photographs, prints and diaries, as well as interviews with her friends and her partner, the sculptor Jo Steele.

Barbara Hanrahan is beautifully illustrated with a number of Hanrahan’s artworks, some of which have not been published before, and many photographs from her life.