Beatrice Davis, 1902-1992, was Australia's most acclaimed book editor, the "backroom girl of Australian literature". As general editor at Angus and Robertson from the late thirties to the early seventies, she nurtured the talents of a host of well-known writers, including Thea Astley, Miles Franklin, Xavier Herbert, Ruth Park, Hal Porter and Patricia Wrightson. Her position as a judge of several major prizes, including the prestigious Miles Franklin Award, reinforced her pivotal role in Australia's literary culture - a role that saw her by turns respected, feared, courted and berated.
Jacqueline Kent's compulsively readable, erudite and witty biography portrays a woman whose passion for living was as great as her passion for Australian literature.
