Dr. Estés is a poet, public speaker, and political activist, as well as a Jungian psychoanalyst. In addition, she participates in the Latina folk tale tradition of the cantadora, or storyteller. All these experiences uniquely qualify her to discuss the deeper psychological meaning behind legends from cultures around the world. 

The author interjects her own personal experience into her introduction of the tales in the book. She recalls the circumstances that first brought a particular story to her attention. In some case, she adapts the original material and rewrites it in a form better fitted to the Wild Woman archetype. In other instances, she explains why she chooses a specific version of a given story over another. She is quoted as saying that the book was intended as “a work of love and resurrection for the women of our world.”