Born into a genteel family of pastoralists and investors in colonial Victoria, Mabel Louise Kelly (1887-1973), or 'Mab' to those who knew her, would grow up to make an enormous contribution to the arts, horticulture and early education in Australia. Most evidently, it was made through bequests to the University of Melbourne and through the donation to the university of a large, diverse and highly valuable collection of books and artworks.

Mab's life spanned a time of change that saw the building of cultural and social institutions in the state of Victoria and the new Australian nation. She married Russell Grimwade - chemist, botanist, industrialist and philanthropist - in 1909. Together they established the Russell Grimwade School of Biochemistry and provided funding for what would become The Miegunyah Press, an imprint of Melbourne University Publishing.

Mab was invested in the future of Australian society, helping to nurture and conserve various cultural, civic and charitable institutions. She was an active fundraiser for and participant in many organisations, from the National Gallery Society of Victoria to the Royal Horticultural Society, the National Trust of Australia, the Australian Ballet, the Native Plants Preservation Society and the Free Kindergarten Union of Victoria. Treasured by her husband, Lady Grimwade was also honoured with the naming for her of The Mab Grimwade rose.

In this richly illustrated biography, Thea Gardiner recreates the fascinating, gilded, international world of Mab Grimwade.