With La Batarde, Violette Leduc described a turbulent Paris of World War II--where she struggled to survive, to create an identity, and to find a voice. In the second remarkable volume of her life story, Mad In Pursuit, the war is finally over. A new generation of writers has appeared in Paris, among them Camus, Genet, Sartre, and Cocteau, and every day, they can be seen writing at the marble-topped tables of the Cafe de Flore. Already in her thirties, Leduc burns with hero-worship and an obsession to become a celebrated writer herself. When she finds a mentor in none other than Simone de Beauvoir, she is pulled into the center of Parisian literary life--"a beehive gone mad. " In the no-holds-barred style that made her a legend, Leduc paints a vibrant picture of the brilliant minds around her--and the dark passions and insecurities that drove her to write.