With such critically acclaimed and best-selling novels as Barren Ground, The Sheltered Life, Vein of Iron, and the Pulitzer Prize-winning In This Our Life, Ellen Glasgow (1873-1945) established herself as one of America's most talented, dedicated, and influential writers. Chronicling the struggles of a fallen South, she pioneered a poetic realism that influenced a generation of southern writers (Robert Penn Warren, Eudora Welty, and William Faulkner among them) and shaped the course of American letters. In Ellen Glasgow: A Biography, Susan Goodman vividly brings to life the famously secretive writer, penetrating the myths, half-truths, and lies that have swirled around Glasgow since the publication of her first novel, The Descendent, in 1896. Drawing on previously unpublished papers and personal interviews, Goodman uncovers the engrossing details of Glasgow's family history, social milieu, personal tragedies, and literary career.