For celebrated bohemian and international icon Vali Myers, art and life were inextricably fused. Her prescience as a dancer, a visual artist and a diarist attracted admirers that included Salvador Dali, Jean Cocteau, Tennessee Williams, and Joni Mitchell. But Vali was equally revered for her self-fashioned persona and alternate lifestyle shared with more than 100 animals in the remote canyon of Il Porto, Positano. This 'kingdom by the sea' was the well-spring of her creativity and formed the backdrop of autobiographical pen and ink drawings that are scattered in private collections across the world. From conservative Melbourne in the 1950s, to street urchin in postwar Paris, and from 1960s Italy to the counterculture scene of New York, this book shadows Vali's footsteps and reanimates the life of an inspiring Australian visionary.