Kate Chopin (1851-1904) was the young widow of a near-bankrupt Louisiana cotton-farmer when she returned to her native St Louis and turned to writing to support her six children. Her fiction won immediate acclaim, but the publication in 1899 of "The Awakening", the portrayal of a woman"s extramarital affair and sexual awakening, sparked a national scandal that led to the book being banned and plagued the author for the rest of her life. Rediscovered in the 1960s, the book was hailed as a feminist classic and Kate Chopin as a major American author. This biography aims to reveal a life as fascinating, vigorous and notorious as any Kate Chopin invented for her characters, including an affair with a married man. Chopin suffered for her independence, but created for herself a life which was in some ways ahead of its time.