The author's initials, under which she commonly wrote, belong to an American poet, Hilda Doolittle, a poet of rare delicacy and distinction. She was analysed by Freud for some months in the years 1933–4, and they formed a friendship that lasted until his death. Nine charming letters of his, hitherto unpublished, form an appendix, and another one may be found in the text.

The book, with its appropriate title, is surely the most delightful and precious appreciation of Freud's personality that is ever likely to be written. Only a fine creative artist could have written it. It is like a lovely flower, and the crude pen of a scientist hesitates to profane it by attempting to describe it. I can only say that I envy anyone who has not yet read it, and that it will live as the most enchanting ornament of all the Freudian biographical literature.