Sylvia Townsend Warner created a self-portrait in the diaries she kept from 1927 until her death in 1978. In this selection, she writes of her friends and colleagues, her writing and music, her dog and cats, and her delight in gardens and housewifery. Above all, this is an account of a great love affair. Valentine Ackland came into the writer's life in 1931, bringing both sensual liberation and emotional anguish which was to last beyond death and evoke writing of power and honesty.