"Like all myths and legends, Bee’s image continues to shift over time. She is still referenced in stories about eccentric figures or social histories of Sydney, though nowadays she is more likely to appear in a blog about dissident women or a cabaret performance. In all her various renderings as a proto hippy, a rebel, a republican, an early feminist, a victim of patriarchy and even an anarchist, her intellectual strengths and her literary aspirations continue to be submerged by her appearance, her conflicts with taxis and her flamboyant behaviour, under the ubiquitous label of eccentric."

This is an excellent biography of Bee Miles, the kind that makes you interested in someone that you wouldn't normally be that interested in. Ellis combines a history of the world that Bee emerges from and lives within with her story, giving this a quality of the story of a particular part of Sydney, from the wealthy mansions of the turn of the century, to the bohemian party world of the post-war inner city, to Depression-era Australian towns, to the world of the city streets in the 1950s and 60s. In her lifetime, Bee crossed multiple class barriers - her relative wealth inoculating her enough to enable her to live a life most are forced out of.
Ellis has strong views about Bee. Ellis places her teenage bout of encephalitis lethargica at the centre of this story, painting a picture of a strong-willed young women thrown into mental illness, whose personality and illness are hence merged into a diagnosis of insanity. While it is hard to tell how different Bee's life would have been with better diagnosis, it is not hard to imagine how improved it would have been with programs to support mentally ill homeless women. So much of what is missing here is respect and dignity in treatment, and this is of a woman whose diction and memory marked her as educated and capable. 
But Ellis is careful never to speak for her. We see Bee primarily through others' eyes, or through glimpses of her own writing. She comes across as easier to admire than to like, and wholly resistant to the many attempts to enlist her in others' causes. This is a story of a slightly enigmatic woman who became a legend, and perhaps the most interesting story is in why that is what we needed her to be.