"Using the occasion of her eightieth-birthday party to reflect on the past, Grumbach delivers an enchanting memoir of the writers, friends, and loves who have accompanied her in mind and body through an extraordinary life of letters.". "Through her eyes we enter the rich literary world of the twentieth century. From her days as a proofreader at Mademoiselle in the 1940s, Grumbach recalls a parade of celebrities - from Gypsy Rose Lee to Carson McCullers. She relives a shocking encounter with Bertrand Russell, explains the meaning of the recent loss of May Sarton, and names a new cat after her acquaintance and Washington journalist Kitty Kelley.". "With guides such as Malcolm Cowley, Samuel Beckett, Thomas Merton, and Virginia Woolf, Grumbach's reveling in the company of writers and friends shows us what it means to keep the living and the dead in our lives."--BOOK JACKET.