A luminescent treatise on writing, love, and loss, a witty response to George Orwell's influential essay "Why I Write"

Things I Don't Want to Know is the first in Deborah Levy's essential three-part "living autobiography" on writing and womanhood.

Taking George Orwell's famous essay, "Why I Write", as a jumping-off point, Deborah Levy offers her own indispensable reflections of the writing life. With wit, clarity, and calm brilliance, she considers how the writer must stake claim to that contested territory as a young woman and shape it to her need. Things I Don't Want to Know is a work of dazzling insight and deep psychological succor, from one of our most vital contemporary writers.