“Bill Goldstein, a wizard of words, has gifted us with a magical brew. Profoundly researched and filled with stunning connections, The World Broke in Two is brilliant, compelling, incisive. It transforms our understanding of modern literature, and the creative relationships of Virginia Woolf, T.S. Eliot, D.H. Lawrence, and E.M. Forster. Everyone interested in history, literature, life will enjoy and benefit from this dazzling work. ”
— Blanche Wiesen Cook, author, Eleanor Roosevelt, Volumes I, II, and III
“A revelatory narrative of the intersecting lives and works of revered authors Virginia Woolf, T. S. Eliot, E. M. Forster and D. H. Lawrence during 1922, the birth year of modernism”
— Sherill Tippins, author of February House and Inside the Dream Palace: The Life and Times of New York's Legendary Chelsea Hotel
“This is a brilliant book about the birth of modernism, one which taught me something on every page. I never knew what a life-changing influence Proust had on Virginia Woolf and E.M. Forster – or how everyone struggled with money, especially T. S. Eliot. This beautifully written book reveals how artistic innovation occurs in the real world of gossip, love affairs, poverty and class differences. You will feel – and be! – much smarter after you read it. ”