Contains updated and revised sketches on nearly 800 of the most widely read authors and illustrators appearing in Gale's Something about the author series.

In 1852, Johanna Heusser married Bernhard Spyri. Bernhard was a lawyer. While living in the city of Z�rich she began to write about life in the country. Her first story, A Note on Vrony's Grave, which deals with a woman's life of domestic violence, was published in 1880; the following year further stories for both adults and children appeared, among them the novel Heidi, which she wrote in four weeks. Heidi is the story of an orphan girl who lives with her grandfather in the Swiss Alps, and is famous for its vivid portrayal of that landscape. The golden sunshine of a glorious June morning flooded the roses of the beautiful garden that surrounded a handsome stone villa on the banks of the Rhine. A thousand sweet perfumes borne upon the gentle breeze mounted like incense to the open windows, and sought entrance there. From a great basin in the middle of the garden, a slender shaft of water rose straight up into the blue sky, and then fell plashing back, sprinkling the flowers and the grass with sparkling moisture.

Presents biographical profiles of significant women from throughout the history of the world, each with birth and death dates when known, a time line, quotation, and references. Arranged alphabetically from Schu-Sui.