Mothers of the Mind: The Remarkable Women Who Shaped Virginia Woolf, Agatha Christie and Sylvia Plath

The stories of the remarkable mothers who shaped Virginia Woolf, Agatha Christie, and Sylvia Plath

Julia Stephen, Clara Miller, and Aurelia Plath were fascinating women in their own rights, and their relationships with their daughters were exceptional; they profoundly influenced the writers’ lives, literature, and attitude to feminism.

This book charts the complex, often contradictory, bond between these mothers and daughters. Too often in the past Virginia, Agatha and Sylvia have been defined by their lovers, this book redresses the balance by focusing on their formative affinity with their mothers.

Drawing on previously unpublished original sources from archives around the world and talking to family and friends of the women this book offers a new perspective on these iconic authors.