One of the reasons for Dorothy Canfield Fisher's greatness is her range. She was a phenomenal person - kind, wise, hard-working - but her interests ranged from the Montessori method to excellence in literature (hence her involvement with the Book of the Month Club for years) and countless important issues in-between. No wonder Eleanor Roosevelt called her one of the ten most influential women in America. And all this combined with being a great novelist. Of course many people are daunted by the length of The Deepening Stream, her favourite among her novels. But the fact is anyone who reads it is stunned. Certainly, here at Persephone Books, we have not read a better novel since our first reading of it three years ago. And proof-reading the re-set version was almost awe-inspiring. Here she is at much the same age as in yesterday's picture but less tired-looking. One can imagine this is how she would have looked in France from 1916-9.