Paul West has published a dozen critically acclaimed novels, among them Rat Man of Paris, The Very Rich Hours of Count Von Stauffenberg, Gala, The Place in Flowers Where Pollen Rests, and Lord Byron's Doctor, which was shortlisted for three of France's most prestigious literary awards, the Medicis and Femina prizes, and the Prix du Meilleur Livre Etranger. His numerous works of non-fiction include the best-selling Words for a Deaf Daughter and, most recently, Portable People, a collection of biographical sketches. His short stories have been collected under the title, The Universe and Other Fictions, and a new volume of criticism, Sheer Fiction II, was published in 1990. His latest novel is The Women of Whitechapel and Jack the Ripper a poignant and gripping re-telling of the Jack the Ripper story which concentrates on the tangled lives of his downtrodden victims. Mr. West is a former Guggenheim Fellow, and he has received the Arts and Letters Award from the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters. Educated at Oxford and Columbia Universities, he became a Literary Lion of the New York Public Library in 1987. [extracted from 1992 brochure]