Summary: | In this biography of Iris Origo, Caroline Moorehead has drawn on unpublished letters, diaries and manuscripts. It provides a vivid picture of the life of one of the most intriguing and attractive women of the 20th century. Together with her shrewd husband, Antonio, Iris Origo bought and brought life to a derelict, arid stretch of land in the Val d'Orcia called La Foce, and created a model estate with a hospital and a school for disadvantaged children. The book also throws light upon the growth of Fascism in Italy in the 1920s and 1930s, and the effect it had on the Origos.
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