At Dawn Powell's death in 1965, nearly all of her books were out of print. Surveys of American literature failed to mention her. Among well-known critics, only Powell's friend Edmund Wilson had ever published a lengthy and serious review of her work.

In 1981, Gore Vidal sparked a renewal of interest in Powell when, in an issue of the Antioch Review, he declared Powell a "comic writer as good as Evelyn Waugh and better than Clemens." In 1987, Vidal wrote an article entitled "Dawn Powell: The American Writer" for The New York Review of Books which directly resulted in the release of Angels on Toast, The Wicked Pavilion, and The Golden Spur in a 1989 omnibus edition by the Quality Paperback Book Club. Vintage Press then published individual editions of the same novels.

Tim Page's interest in Dawn Powell began in 1991 when he chanced upon Edmund Wilson's 1962 review of the novelist's work. After tracking down a handful of Powell's novels, Page wrote an article for New York Newsday on what he hoped would be the Great Dawn Powell Revival. After meeting Powell's executrix and members of her extended family, Page was instrumental in having Dawn Powell's papers transferred to Columbia University and in arranging for the reissue of more of her books through Steerforth Press. He edited The Diaries of Dawn Powell, wrote her biography and now serves as advisor to the writer's estate. Today there are more of Powell's works in print than at any time during her life.

From the book Dawn Powell: A Biography by Tim Page. Copyright © 1998 by Tim Page. Reprinted by arrangement with Tim Page and Henry Holt and Company, LLC.