Rebecca West was born Cicily Isabel Fairfield. Her father abandoned his family, and his death which followed hard after, left the family poor. West was educated and began a career as an actress before joining the feminist movement under the Pankhursts and writing for feminist magazines and papers. When she was 19, she began what would be a ten year affair with H. G. Wells. H. G. Wells liked the ladies and apparently thought he wore pants made of glass (see various, including Philip Gooden). West apparently liked the men.

West and Wells had pet names for each other. He was Jaguar, and she was Panther. She also got pregnant. She didn’t have a wedding, and Wells was married (despite his many affairs, he never divorced). Their child was Anthony Panther also called Anthony West. West delivered the child outside of London, which she had left because of the stigma attached to an unmarried mother. Apparently in later years, Wells and West disagreed about whether the child was planned or not, with West claiming at one point Wells had impregnated her to keep. Their child apparently was quite bitter later in life. I don’t wonder why.

West went on to have a very good career, including as a journalist and travel writer, and it is somewhat upsetting that she is not as popular as her one time lover Wells, who might have stolen a woman’s work and passed it off as his own.

It is vital that you know the above because it will influence how you see this story which was written after the birth of West’s child and deals with love, lust, and class.

And that is the problem with this new policy by GR staff, which slim hope it is, one hopes they change. It is close to impossible to separate an author from a work. It’s true as more than one person pointed out in the feedback thread that many people would want to know if they are reading the work of a pedophile or a rapist. Imagine O.J. Simpson’s proposed book but not being able to mention anything about the spousal abuse or trials. Goodreads was prior this policy change a place for readers to find this information, so they could make an informed buying decision. This policy nulls this.

Furthermore, it limits learning and limits any teacher or class who wants to use Goodreads (which many have been). How can a teacher encourage students to leave a critical review if students cannot mention the author’s life or background? How can students discuss, review, or learn in such an environment? They can’t. Goodreads will no longer be a place where you can learn from book reviews.

That is why this policy stinks. That is why this review focuses on the author.