Sister Brother

Devoted eccentric and compelling Gertrude and Leo Stein were constant companions from childhood to adulthood until finally they spoke no more. Americans expatriates and virtually orphans they lived together for almost forty years collaborating in one of the great artistic and literary adventures of the twentieth century. Sister Brother tells the story of that adventure and relationship. With a personality that drew people toward hera"regardless of what they thought of her inventive hermetic prosea"Gertrude Stein dazzled and perplexed. Enigmatic intelligent and self-absorbed Leo also dazzled but in his own way. One of the crucial figures in Gertrudea's early years he was the original guiding spirit of the famed salon at 27 rue de Fleurus which continued for almost two decades. From her early days as a medical student to her first days in Paris Gertrude was passionately driven toward the career in which she distinguished herself demanding appreciation as an exceptional writer who knew precisely what she intended. This book shows how Gertrude slowly struggled with what became a unique voicea"and why her brother spurned it.With its wealth of new and rare material its reconstruction of Leoa's famed art collection and its array of charactersa"from Bernard Berenson to Pablo Picassoa"this biography offers the first glimpse into the smouldering sibling relationship that helped form two of the twentieth centurya's most unusual figures.