Simona's book about Maud Karpeles was published posthumously in 2011 and until I was invited to the its launch event, I had neither heard of Maud, or known that Simona had been working on her biography. Unlike many of her other books, therefore, I started this one in complete ignorance of her subject but decided as early as the preface that I would like her, mainly due to the description of her as 'small, distinctly plump...and witch-like in appearance'.