Jeremy Reed's biography of the novelist Anna Kavan draws on newly discovered original material to map out the enigmatic life, times and visionary work of a writer who renamed herself after a character in one of her own novels and did everything she could to resist biography.

A Stranger on Earth documents Kavan's lifelong addiction to heroin, the circumstances of her two failed marriages, the inseparable bond she formed with her psychiatrist, her suicide attempts, her strange and unforgettable paintings, her devoted attraction to gay men, her obsessions, phobias, reclusiveness and indomitable artistic courage. Reed celebrates the extraordinary imagination at work in her highly acclaimed novels, such as Asylum Piece, Sleep Has His House, Ice and Mercury. Her admirers include J G Ballard, Doris Lessing, Brian Aldiss, Anaïs Nin and her work has influenced a generation of younger writers, from Elizabeth Wurtzel to Will Self.