This book, written by one of the leaders in the field of the neurosciences, will give an explanation of the symptoms and eventual untimely suicide of one of literatures greatest authors; Virginia Woolf. The sources used are letters and statements from Woolf herself, the literature she wrote and comments, letters and any other documentation that referred to her mental state and her medical status. The author will use current insight into depression, the mental consequences of child abuse and drug interactions/effects to illustrate this case study. The book should appeal to researchers in the neurosciences, psychology and psychiatry as well as to a broader audience, mainly individuals who are interested in the (external and internal) forces that drove Woolf to write her material.

"This book is a wonderful vehicle to bring us up to speed with neuropsychiatry & epigenetics advances. The examination, typology & historical development of the concept of soul, mind and consciousness is both very useful and neatly concise. I love the footnotes, like Oliver Sacks'' they become delicious essays in themselves. Beautifully done." (Professor Alan Rosen,University of Sydney, Senior Consultant Psychiatrist and Deputy Commissioner, Mental Health Commission, NSW)

"Professor Bennett brings his immense neuroscientific knowledge and conceptual sophistication to bear upon the mental illness of one of the greatest novelists of the twentieth century. His investigations of the psychiatric history of Virginia Woolf are based on extensive research into her medical record, familiarity with the state of medicine and treatment of the mentally ill in the first decades of the last century, and mastery of the latest findings of neuropsychiatry. This book will fascinate both students of psychiatry and lovers of the writings of Virginia Woolf." (P.M.S. Hacker, St John''s College,Oxford)