[close] Elizabeth Smart, author of By Grand Central Station I Sat Down and Wept, has long been seen as a woman determined by "Romantic" love. In this suggestive new look at her life, Kim Echlin shows that another--and powerful--source of her creativity was rooted in her fearless exploration of the female body and psyche--as daughter, lover of men and women, and mother of four children. Elizabeth Smart bucked tradition from the beginning. The daring and pain and elusive moments of joy in this extraordinary life are told through her diaries, poetry and prose. Echlin brings new material to bear on this reflection including a hundred interviews with family, friends and work colleagues, as well as never before seen letters in which Smart reflects on birth and female creativity. She highlights Elizabeth Smart's unwavering commitment to writing in a voice and aesthetic form that reflects authentic female experience. Smart's subject matters--women's sexuality and relationships--are timeless, but they have been viewed with a cocked eyebrow since the Wife of Bath. Echlin shows how Elizabeth Smart's fearless embrace of her own experience provides the raw life from which she created her art and challenged herself to live and speak her truth. [close]