Savage Beauty: The Life of Edna St. Vincent Millay Book

This is one long book and I wanted more. Not more pages. More poetry. And way more salaciousness. Alas, Nancy Milford is a patient professional who carefully presents well-documented facts with little innuendo.

The story of Edna is beyond fascinating. This sort-of homely girl from Maine uses her mind and ability to pierce through people's facades to seduce her way through life. But there's so much more to the story. She works hard and deserves her successes. She loves to be loved, cares to be cared for. She can never escape the ingrained fear of destitution and abandonment suffered throughout her childhood. But she also never seems to let go of the wild passion that fills a certain set of intelligent young children. Through her poetry, we see how she eventually tames this sharp pastoral ardor into sometimes subtly bold plays and poems and other writings that touch upon the here and now of her time.

And then there is her mother, her sisters, her friendships, her dalliances, her addictions, sadness, her savage fiery-red beauty.