Stella Bowen, babysitters, male genius, and domestic bliss

“Even in the face of art, especially in the face of art, life must go on.” —Drusilla Modjeska

Originally published in 1941, Stella Bowen’s memoir Drawn from Life, is the most expensive used book I’ve ever bought—a $33 Virago paperback printed in 1984 and shipped to me from an antiquarian bookshop in rural Georgia. I perseverated on the purchase. Perhaps I could read about Stella’s life and her appearances in literature. To Ezra Pound she was a “…