The mock biography was drafted in 1907, years before Woolf’s first novel appeared in 1915, and the writer – then called Virginia Stephen – did not, at least initially, want them to be seen. Sending a draft to Dickinson, she demanded that her subject and another friend, Nelly, be “the only readers”. To Nelly, she insisted: “dont quote it – see my vanity! And dont show it: I cant remember now how bad it is; but I know it will have to be re-written in six months; and I shant do it”.

But in fact she did return to fix the stories, we now know, thanks to a chance discovery of a revised manuscript, hidden away in a stately home for 80 years.

Sounds good. I hope to remember to look out for it once it’s published.

Virginia Woolfe’s books played a big role in my formative years.

Newly unearthed? Or AI written?