This collection investigates the personal life and artistic identity of Dora Carrington through her own correspondence and private journals. Editor David Garnett compiles these primary documents to provide insight into the social dynamics of the Bloomsbury Group and the specific, complex nature of Carrington's lifelong attachment to writer Lytton Strachey. The text serves as a biographical record, utilizing Carrington's own voice to document her experiences as a painter and a central figure within early 20th-century British intellectual circles.

Scholars and readers frequently cite this volume as a foundational primary source for understanding the private life of Dora Carrington. Experts note that the text provides an intimate, unvarnished look at the interpersonal relationships that defined the Bloomsbury era.