This is the first biography of Willa Cather to explore thoroughly the connections between her artistic and her psychological growth. Sharon O'Brien makes full use of biographical and literary materials: Cather's personal and professional correspondence, photographs, and the early short stories as well as the major fiction.

Dealing openly and seriously with Cather's lesbianism, the book explores the importance of female friendships in Cather's life and work and assesses the impact that her need to conceal her sexual identity had on the creative process. Concentrating on Cather's childhood, adolescence, young womanhood, and lengthy apprenticeship, O'Brien paints the portrait of the artist as a young woman and reveals the complex interplay between Willa Cather's life and her work.

In a new Preface, O'Brien sets the book in its historical context.