In this biography of Iris Origo, Caroline Moorehead has drawn on unpublished letters, diaries and manuscripts.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.