Lessing earned critical success with her very first novel, 1950's The Grass is Singing, and has, in the half century since, grown in stature to be considered one of the most important writers of her time. She has never rested on her laurels, instead continuing to write at a furious pace and to experiment with both style and subject matter.

Her fame reached a high point in 1962 with the publication of her seventeenth book. The Golden Notebook takes the form of a diary, revealing the tensions in one modern woman's relationships and commitments and expressing her disillusionment with feminism, Communism, and other collective movements. Though critical of organized feminism, the novel was embraced by feminists around the world. This was the first of Lessing's works to be published in many languages, and it brought her significant international prominence. It remains Lessing's best known and most highly...