Simone Weil"s short life was as extraordinary as her writings. Colleague of Sartre and de Beauvoir, she fought with the anarchists in the Spanish Civil War and died of self-starvation at only 34, while serving with de Gaulle and the Free French in London. A life of immense political activity was united with a profound and highly unorthodox religiousness. Many more consider her the best spiritual writer of our century and a true saint of modern times.