I Used to Live Here Once: The Haunted Life of Jean Rhys

Marina Hyde's biography of Jean Rhys, titled "I Used to Live Here Once," is a Times Literary Non-Fiction Book of the Year 2022 and an LA Times Best Book of the Year 2022. It is an intimate, revealing, and profoundly moving biography of the acclaimed author of "Wide Sargasso Sea." The book explores Rhys's experiences of heartbreak, poverty, notoriety, breakdowns, and imprisonment, forming an iconic "Rhys woman" whose personality was often mistaken for a self-portrait. Hyde's biography reveals a proud and fiercely independent artist who experienced tragedy and extreme poverty, alcohol and drug dependency, romantic and sexual turmoil, and yet was never a victim. The book is persuasive, surprising, and compassionate, bringing Jean Rhys to life as never before.

Format: Hardback
Length: 432 pages
Publication date: 12 May 2022
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers

A captivating and deeply moving biography, Marina Hyde's 'Seymour: An Unfinished Life' has been recognized with numerous prestigious awards, including the Times Literary Non-Fiction Book of the Year 2022, the LA Times Best Book of the Year 2022, and the Costa Book Award for Biography 2022. This intimate portrayal delves into the life and literary legacy of Jean Rhys, the acclaimed author of 'Wide Sargasso Sea.'

Jean Rhys, hailed as an obsessive and troubled genius, stands as one of the most captivating and unsettling writers of the 20th century. Throughout her extraordinary years as an exile in 1920s Paris and later in England, her memories of a conflicted Caribbean childhood continue to haunt her four fictional works. Rhys' experiences of heartbreak, poverty, fame, breakdowns, and even imprisonment became the raw material for her writing, creating an iconic 'Rhys woman' whose personality—vulnerable, witty, watchful, and angry—was often mistaken for a self-portrait.

While many details of Rhys' life are revealed through her memoir, 'Smile Please,' and the stories she wrote throughout her career, it is astonishing to discover that no biographer has previously explored the crucial seventeen years she spent living on the remote Caribbean island of Dominica. This island, which haunted Rhys' mind and work for the rest of her life, remains largely unexplored in the annals of her biography.

In her luminous and penetrating work, Marina Hyde unveils a proud and fiercely independent artist who experienced tragedy and extreme poverty, alcohol and drug dependency, romantic and sexual turmoil, yet remained resilient and never a victim. Through her meticulous research and intuitive storytelling, Hyde enables one of our most excitingly intuitive biographers to uncover the hidden truth about a fascinatingly elusive woman. The figure that emerges for Seymour is powerful, cultured, self-mocking, self-absorbed, unpredictable, and often darkly funny. Persuasive, surprising, and compassionate, this unforgettable biography brings Jean Rhys to life as never before.

Seymour: An Unfinished Life is a testament to Hyde's exceptional talent as a biographer, offering a profound and nuanced understanding of a literary icon who continues to captivate readers worldwide. This captivating biography will leave readers in awe of Rhys' extraordinary life and enduring legacy.

Weight: 714g
Dimension: 163 x 242 x 41 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9780008353254