“Writing and reading a biography is, therefore, a privilege in the sense that it allows us to engage with otherness, to let the other penetrate us like a ghost, in order to learn the meaning that others have derived from their lives as we struggle to make sense of our own life.”

Starting from this assumption, Ursula Tidd attempts to approach Simone de Beauvoir, one of the most important feminist intellectuals of the 20th century, whose work completely transformed the way we think and perceive gender, sexuality, and the very notion of "woman" today.

Through a journey into her literary and philosophical works, as well as various aspects and dimensions of her life, Tidd's biography provides an excellent introduction to the life and work of the author of The Second Sex.