Rebel Angel

"At last a biography in English of one of the most interesting women of the twentieth century! Schwarzenbach was so far ahead of her time that we are only now beginning to catch up to her. Little happened in the early decades of the twentieth century to which she didn't have a connection. What a life! And what a great way Padraig Rooney has told it."
Carlos Dews, editor of The Collected Works of Carson McCullers

"Rebel Angel gives us the extraordinary story of an extraordinary woman. Padraig Rooney is a born storyteller who charts the short but dramatic life of the beautiful, talented and troubled Swiss-born writer who, much to her wealthy and conservative family’s dismay, set herself in instinctive opposition to the rise of fascism across Europe, moved in the circles of Weimar figures like Klaus and Erika Mann, and explored regions of the world little known to white Europeans. She showed tremendous literary promise and embarked on documenting a life of adventure, travel and erotic passion. Known in the English-speaking world primarily as a shadowy figure in feminist and lesbian history, Schwarzenbach was until now nearly lost to legend; Rooney reanimates this fascinating, multi-talented figure, who annoyed and inspired in equal measure."
Mary V. Dearborn, author of Carson McCullers: A Life

“An empathetic portrait of an audacious woman.”
Kirkus Reviews

“impressive”
The Times Literary Supplement

“Brilliant historical writing on the global violence and chaos generated by fascistic despots makes Rebel Angel prescient reading for our times.”
The Irish Times