Iris Origo (1902–1988) was a British-born biographer and writer. She lived in Italy and devoted much of her life to the improvement of the Tuscan estate at La Foce, which she purchased with her husband in the 1920s. During the Second World War, she sheltered refugee children and assisted many escaped Allied prisoners of war and partisans in defiance of Italy’s fascist regime and Nazi occupation forces. She is the author of A Chill in the Air: An Italian War Diary, 1939–1940 and War in Val d’Orcia: An Italian War Diary, 1943–1944 (both NYRB Classics); Leopardi: A Study in Solitude; and The Merchant of Prato, among others.
