Colonial bad girl

Claire Tomalin reminisces about the fascinating subject of her 1987 biography, Katherine Mansfield: A Secret Life. “Mansfield has often been seen as one of the bad girls of literature. And it’s true that she was made of  ambiguities. The best of her writing strikes to the heart, sharp and clear … In the conduct of her life too, she was all energy, wit and intelligence, adored for her charm and beauty … Her appetite for experience led her to play the part of the wild colonial girl to its limits.” A Secret Life was re-issued in December with a new jacket (above) featuring the only portrait of Mansfield known to have been done from life.