Sometimes You Have to Lie: The Life and Times of Louise Fitzhugh, Renegade Author of Harriet the Spy

by Leslie Brody

In this inspiring biography, discover the true story of Harriet the Spy author Louise Fitzhugh -- and learn about the woman behind one of literature's most beloved heroines.

Harriet the Spy, first published in 1964, has mesmerized generations of readers and launched a million diarists. Its beloved antiheroine, Harriet, is erratic, unsentimental, and endearing-very much like the woman who created her, Louise Fitzhugh.

Born in 1928, Fitzhugh was raised in segregated Memphis, but she soon escaped her cloistered world and headed for New York, where her expanded milieu stretched from the lesbian bars of Greenwich Village to the art world of postwar Europe, and her circle of friends included members of the avant-garde like Maurice Sendak and Lorraine Hansberry. Fitzhugh's novels, written in an era of political defiance, are full of resistance: to authority, to conformity, and even -- radically, for a children's author -- to make-believe.

As a children's author and a lesbian, Fitzhugh was often pressured to disguise her true nature. Sometimes You Have to Lie tells the story of her hidden life and of the creation of her masterpiece, which remains long after her death as a testament to the complicated relationship between truth, secrecy, and individualism.

Genres: Biography, Nonfiction, LGBT, Queer, Biography Memoir, Memoir, Adult

335 pages, Hardcover

First published December 1, 2020

About the author

Born in the Bronx, New York, Leslie Brody left home at the age of 17 to become an underground press reporter for the Berkeley Tribe. A year later, she set off to travel around Europe. From 1971-1976, Brody lived in London and Amsterdam, sampling various hippie occupations. She returned to California in the late 70s and worked as a librarian both at the San Francisco College of Mortuary Science, and for the Sierra Club, while attending college at San Francisco State University. Leslie Brody has won the PEN Center USA West prize and a National Endowment for the Arts fellowship, and several awards for her playwriting. She is the author of the memoir Red Star Sister and the story collection A Motel of the Mind and teaches full time at the Creative Writing Department of the University of Redlands. She lives in Redlands, California.

Reviews

[Regina White]

I cannot rate the book because I worked on researching it for four years with author Leslie Brody. We uncovered details for it that are so fascinating I have to confess I haven't stopped researching this and related topics. I have fallen way down a hole, socially distancing myself to a whole different era.

I hope you enjoy it.

[CaseyTheCanadianLesbrarian · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was fascinated but ultimately left a bit unsatisfied by this biography of Louise Fitzhugh, author of one of my favourite childhood books, HARRIET THE SPY. 

It's a thorough account of her sadly short life, from childhood in Memphis, Tennessee (she was born in 1928) and her death in Connecticut at age 46 from a brain aneurysm. But she accomplished and lived through a lot! 

Her parents had a nasty and public divorce when she was only a year old and her dad eventually won sole custody basically because he had more money and a better lawyer. He lied to Louise and told her that her mother was dead, which Louise believed for the first part of her childhood! Talk about a fucked up way to grow up. I felt so bad for her mom. 

Louise hated the South's social mores and conservative politics (especially segregation) and she fled as early as she could, spending time in France and Italy in between settling into lesbian life in New York's Greenich Village. What a creative and powerful time and place to be a queer artist! Louise was friends with and dated a whole host of accomplished professional and artistic women, including Lorraine Hansberry, Patricia Highsmith, and MJ Meaker (author of the first lesbian pulp novel). I loved getting a glimpse of her life in this period. The historical dyke drama!! 

Emotionally I found this biography a bit distant at times. I wanted it to slow down and get into how Louise was *feeling* rather than plodding along to describe the next thing she did. It does not, however, skimp on interesting details and it seems a bit unfair to fault it for not having enough access to Louise's voice when it appears that isn't really possible. Which brings me to my next point…

In the end Leslie Brody's work feels haunted by the lasting detrimental effect of Fitzhugh's last partner and executor of her estate, Lois Morehead. Louise named Lois her executor since, of course in the 1960s, Lois had no legal standing as Louise's partner. But it's hard not to think that Louise fucked up a bit or didn't really know her girlfriend or maybe understandably  thought she wouldn't be dying for a long time. 

Lois held a funeral and a memorial service for Louise. Both were religious, even though Louise was an atheist. Mention of Louise's sexuality was forbidden at the services, although Louise had been very out during her lifetime. Lois worked deliberately to cultivate an image of Louise as a "chaste spinster lady with a sense of humour" – uh Louise was a politically radical lesbian and artist?? Presumably, this solidified Lois's ability to keep making lots of money off of Louise's writing for children by not alerting homophobes to the author's sexuality. I am trying to have empathy for the fact that Lois was clearly struggling with internalized homophobia (she pretended she and Louise were friends who lived together, apparently). But given how she guarded Louise's art and papers so strictly for decades and sanitized Louise's legacy in a way that doesn't seem at all in line with Louise's politics or beliefs, it is very frustrating. 

This biography makes it clear Louise considered herself a painter first and foremost. She also wrote works in various forms and genres for adults. But there are no reproductions of her art, quotations from her writing for adults, or any photographs of her own or Lois's included in the biography. Basically, anything that would be in her estate's collection is conspicuously missing. 

Ultimately SOMETIMES YOU HAVE TO LIFE, despite the breadth of information about Louise Fitzhugh's life and work from everyone's perspective but her own, makes her feel a bit like an absent presence. 

[Carrie Poppy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic. An enthralling account of the woman who gave us Harriet. A stranger sent me this, having heard me talk about my love for Harriet the Spy. I’m so grateful.

[Suzanne Leopold (Suzy Approved Book Reviews) · Rating 4 out of 5]

“Harriet the Spy” by Louise Fitzhugh was first published in 1964. Since then, this classic middle-grade school novel has sold over 5 million copies worldwide. However, the author's personal life remained a mystery as she never granted interviews or attended bookstore publicity events. Louise was born to a privileged family in Memphis during the 1920s and quickly accepted that she was a lesbian. She became unhappy with the local climate of racial and social segregation and left for New York City to study art and poetry. In her short life, she cultivated a life filled with rich experiences and a community of deep friendships.

“Sometimes You Have To Lie” by Leslie Brody is a well-crafted biography of the complicated and interesting life of a pioneering woman. I found this book fascinating as it depicts someone who stayed true to herself while creating realistic books for young adults. One of my earliest memories of “Harriet the Spy” was seeing it propped up in my school library as a recommended book. I was intrigued to learn more about the author.

[Laura · Rating 5 out of 5]

The book I've been waiting for. Hello, mastermind creator of Harriet the Spy!

[Sarah Schulman]

Fun to read- part of that genre of Lesbians in the Village: Audre Lorde's Zami, and biographies of Patricia Highsmith, Bereniece Abbott and Agnes Martin. Longing for a social history that brings all this together.

[Heidi · Rating 2 out of 5]

An in-depth but surprisingly shallow biography about the author of one of my favorite childhood books (I can't tell you how many times I accompanied Harriet on her rounds). Louise Fitzhugh lived through some of the most turbulent times of the 20th century, and yet seemed little affected by them. Aside from her feelings on Jim Crow and segregation, so little was made of the context in which she lived that her story could have been set in any era without anyone noticing the difference. Maybe she did live such an insular, insulated life, and maybe nearly everyone she met accepted her for who she was, but in that era, I highly doubt it. I think the biography would have been fleshed out a little more if it had focused less on who she was dating and how that relationship was going, and a little more on her struggles as an artist and as a person. She was obviously a very complicated, intense person - everyone who knew her said that - but we were given precious few examples of why and how she was complicated and intense. At the end, I still didn't feel like I knew her; though maybe that was the point? She was ultimately unknowable?

Also, why were there so few pictures of her art? We were treated to countless descriptions of her paintings and sketches, but no actual photos of them. Were there copyright issues? Perhaps...a cursory Google search turned up minimal results beyond some of the illustrations from her books. Still, I was disappointed.

2.5 stars, rounded down. Well-written and well-researched, but unsatisfying in the end.

[El · Rating 5 out of 5]

When Alison Bechdel extols, “What a lesbian!” on the back cover copy... you pick up the damn book.

[Jeffrey · Rating 2 out of 5]

Read as an Advanced Reading Copy so I do hope that there are photographs of Fitzhugh's art work in the final book but this is mediocre and that's being kind - really if you are going to write a biography about one of the great children's writers, learn something about the field and read the book with care - Brody's comments about Harriet the Spy show what a piss-poor reader she is and really are embarrassing - she clearly doesn't get Harriet - imagine seeing no change in Harriet from the opening the book in comparison to its ending. This is a trite book by a writer who clearly has no real interest in Children's Literature - if she did she'd know that To Kill a Mockingbird isn't and has never been a work of Children's Literature and believe you me - Louise Fitzhugh wouldn't want Harriet to be compared to Scout - not ever. Not just disappointed - Leslie Brody wasted my time!

[LAPL Reads · Rating 4 out of 5]

When the children's novel Harriet the Spy was published it received positive and negative criticism, and there was some alarm, even by librarians, about the main character, a cantakorous child, who is a spy. Harriet is an eleven-year-old who keeps a notebook, really a diary, with her observations about classmates, neighbors and family. When another child steals the notebook, classmates read Harriet's notes and start bullying her. In today's world the fictional Harriet would be considered an outlier, a renegade and a victim, who is entitled to free speech--certainly in a novel. The book's debut was in 1964, and the book may still be the object of concern, perhaps even attempted censorship. Harriet, very much like her creator, was way ahead of her time, although not for the children who read the book and loved it. It spoke to children who did not fit in with other children, did not have many friends, and for the most part did not like school. The title of this new biography comes from the mouth of Ole Golly, Harriet's nanny, who advises her charge that, "Sometimes you have to lie. But to yourself you must always tell the truth." Louise Fitzhugh was honest with herself and, for the most part, with others, about who she was, a lesbian, and what she wanted to do with her life, first be a visual artist and later on a writer. Throughout her life, her uvarnished honesty brought satisfaction, along with problems and definitely anxieties.

Fitzhugh's home was in Memphis, Tennessee, where she had a reputation as being reckless, and dressed and did what she wanted: her hair was cut very short and she wore tomboy clothes well into young adulthood. She had major issues with her parents that emanated from their divorce, and how she was left on a couch by her mother when she walked out on her husband. There were other questions and mysteries about her family that plagued Fitzhugh. In 1948, while working at the Memphis Commercial Appeal, Louise found a clippings file that documented the 1927 scandalous breakup of her parents and some other sensational information about them. Some of the missing pieces were filled in, but the young woman's anger and discontent with her family and with life in the South were not resolved.

Louise Fitzhugh's life as a student at Bard College was short and she found her way to 1950s Greenwich Village, where there was a world of people who were creative and open to different ways of life. Along with her interest in writing, she was a talented visual artist and took classes at Cooper Union and the Art Students League. Eventually Fitzhugh made her way to France and Italy for more art instruction and exploration. Biographer Leslie Brody writes about the many writers, artists, editors and educators who were part of this very rich period in New York and in Europe, and many of them were part of Fitzhugh's life, as mentors and friends. Throughout those years, she found loving relationships, that for her, were not always smooth and harmonious.

Harriet the Spy is Fitzhugh's best known book for children, even though she wrote and illustrated other books, which the Los Angeles Public Library owns. In 1964, Harriet and her creator, Louise Fitzhugh, were looked upon as unappealing, but time and changes in attitudes have worn well on their innate spirit and independence. Early on in her fictitious life, Harriet was recognized as a cover for queer identity, which has validity, but her personality and character traits have universal appeal. Above all, Harriet has always spoken to children who do not fit in with other children, in an obvious and not obvious way; she is precocious and with a very strong personality and cannot be easily manipulated by other children, nor by adults; she cannot stand phonies; and she will not put up or shut up with her opinions. Most importantly, she really is not a spy, someone out to gather information to use against others, but an artist gathering information for her writing. This children's novel has had resonance well past its 1964 debut. Harriet's/Fitzhugh's voice reaches into this century, albeit in a "A satirical 2017 article, 'An Open Letter to Robert Mueller from the Association of Super Secret Detectives.' It amusingly recommends that Mueller invite Harriet to join his team investigating Russian interference in the 2016 US elections. If only."(p. 279)

Reviewed by Sheryn Morris, Librarian, Literature & Fiction

[Gail C. · Rating 3 out of 5]

SOMETIMES YOU HAVE TO LIE is an in-depth look into the life and growth of Louise Fitzhugh. Her unconventional upbringing and bohemian style life say much about why Harriet, the Spy is who she is. There are also a vast number of other writing gigs and books attributed to Fitzhugh about which I knew nothing.
This is a book that will probably be most enjoyed by those who are Fitzhugh’s fans. It is filled, sometimes overly so, with information about her entire life, including her family, her rebelliousness, and her considerable quest for new adventures and experiences. Fitzhugh lived a life many people might expect of an artist, although it might be less expected when one considers the author to be one of children’s books.
While this book didn’t excite me, I think it probably will be captivating for anyone who is a fan of Fitzhugh’s work. I would recommend it to anyone who likes both biographies and Louise Fitzhugh.
My thanks to Perseus Books for an advanced copy for this review. The opinions expressed here are entirely my own.

[Daniel Sevitt · Rating 5 out of 5]

If there is anything frustrating about this fine biography, it's that the life it describes was too short. I have long been fascinated with Louise Fitzhugh as her few published works have had as profound impact on my life as any others. Brody's brisk biog highlights some of her early unhappiness in the South which I knew about, but also emphasizes her art which it seems clear was more important to her than the writing. I knew about Fitzhugh's sexuality which was kept deliberately obscured for commercial reasons, but here we see a life lived in full, out in the open and a woman who knew exactly who she was and who she loved.

Harriet M. Welsch was and remains a key figure in my life. Nobody's Family Is Going to Change also left a lasting impression on me. This was a worthy biography of an important literary figure who died too young.

[Jim · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thousands of teenage aspiring writers found inspiration from the notebook-scribbling eleven-year-old girl in the best-selling 1964 novel Harriet the Spy. Some, myself included, became especially aware of the irascible protagonist’s gender-nonconforming attire and demeanor. But only years later did fans discover that the book’s author, Louise Fitzhugh, was a lesbian.

In a thoroughly researched and utterly fascinating biography, Sometime You Have to Lie: The Life and Times of Louise Fitzhugh, Renegade Author of Harriet the Spy, Leslie Brody shares intimate details of the writer’s sometimes fabulous, sometimes troubled life.

Like nearly all biographies, Brody begins with her subject’s family, in this case an affluent Memphis-based lineage before her birth in 1928. But Fitzhugh had no ordinary heritage. When she was an infant, her parents’ contentious divorce proceedings rivaled the Scopes ‘Monkey’ trail, and the days in the packed courthouse made newspaper headlines for weeks.

This all later left a young Fitzhugh bereft, particularly when her father lied that her mother had died. Dissolute and determined to escape the tainted traditions of her family and the antiquated debutante rites other young women took on, Fitzhugh impulsively eloped with a man before the marriage was abruptly annulled.

She took to more rebellious behavior, and even a love affair with Amelia Brent, a young woman whose premature death would later inspire a lesbian-themed unfinished novel, Mimi.

The inspiration for what would later become the fictional Harriet’s obsession may have begun when Fitzhugh interned at the local newspaper, filing old articles, including reports of her own family, specifically her estranged mother (a later reunion would prove to be unsettling).

After studies at Bard College, Fitzhugh’s eventual trek north to New York City led her to the West Village’s bohemian artist circles, where she befriended authors Maurice Sendak and Loraine Hansberry.

After a few illustrated children's book projects, including Suzuki Beane, an illustrated children’s book that took on Beatnik life, and the anti-war-themed Bang, Bang You’re Dead (with Sandra Scoppettone), Fitzhugh struggled with a few play scripts, one of which, to one agent, too closely resembled her dread-filled Southern family life.

Fitzhugh was also an accomplished visual artist who had dreams of prominent gallery exhibitions, which didn’t work out. Not taking well to criticism, she traveled to Italy and France (alone, when her then-girlfriend decided to attend college instead) and hung out with other artistic exiles.

Returning to New York, the frustrated artist became determined to make her mark amid the tumultuous early 1960s. Brody details the development of Fitzhugh’s novel Harriet the Spy and how it initially was received with skepticism by her agent and editor. No other children’s book featured such a main character, whose copiously-penned notebooks eventually get her in trouble with her schoolmates. But readers enjoyed Harriet’s uniquely unfeminine style and curious nature.

Brody details the difficulties Fitzhugh faced from the publishing industry, which, at the time, including few women editors, often treated women authors with condescension.

To fully enjoy this extensive biography, required re-reading of Harriet the Spy –and even possibly the two affable yet less popular sequels based on other characters (Sport was published posthumously)– would be essential. Brody makes multiple comparisons between Harriet as a character and Fitzhugh’s actual demeanor, including her alternately “spritely” and “irascible” behavior toward others.

Despite the book’s eventual success, Fitzhugh refused to attend author events or readings. Her publisher’s marketing remained oblique in portraying Fitzhugh’s life, and she gave very few interviews. At one point, her publisher’s marketing campaigns failed to keep up with the public’s desire for the book.

Rereading Harriet the Spy through the context of this fascinating biography reveals much more adult themes in the sometimes critiqued novel, which at one point in a later printing was rejected by national school library buyers, despite being a best-seller in the public market.

Having lived her adult life out of the closet, Fitzhugh seemed to understood the saying from Harriet’s fictional nanny, Ole Golly; “Sometimes you have to lie.” While this could be applied to Fitzhugh’s lesbianism, Ole Golly followed that with “But to yourself you must always tell the truth.”

In an age before online anything, Fitzhugh managed to live openly until her death in 1974, eight days before the publication of her then-third novel, Nobody's Family Is Going To Change.

At fault in the big lie, the author’s estate was protective of their property and the reputation of the works by hiding details of Fitzhugh’s private life. It’s a testament to Brody’s Harriet-like investigative journalism that reveals so many personal details through letters and other documents. Brody has created a flowing, fascinating story about a woman who defied traditions to create a classic modern work of literature that thoroughly broke the mold.

[Leslie aka StoreyBook Reviews · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was intrigued by this book because while I have heard of Harriet the Spy, I have never read the book. I always love learning about authors and what their life was like and how they came to create their famous works and I now want to read the book that helped girls realize that they do not have to fit into a mold of what society thinks they should do and be in life.

Louise Fitzhugh led an interesting life and I felt like she never quite figured out where she fit in, or if she fit in at all. Her family appeared to be dysfunctional, but then what family isn't today? Louise liked to have fun and didn't let anyone bring her down, or at least that is my impression. She had dreams of what she wanted for her life, and it wasn't to live in Tennessee. Rather, New York and Paris were two locations that called to her.

This book is very detailed about Louise, her writing, her art, and her family. There is a section that shares how her parents met and their relationship, however brief, and how that impacted Louise growing up. I felt that the book was well researched with all of the footnotes. Most of the information came from family and friends since Louise rarely gave interviews, but I felt like the details gave us an insight into her travels through life and love.

This is not a quick read and sometimes I felt like there was too much information, but I can imagine it was hard to know what to keep and what to leave out.

Overall we give it 3 paws up.

[Ida · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Harriet the Spy" was a formative book for me in my youth. The heroine was an independent-minded tomboy who had a temper -- relatable as could be. When I re-read it as an adult, I was blown away by how nearly perfect it is as a novel. The book taught me valuable life lessons, including that "there are as many ways to live as there are people in the world." But I never knew much about the author, Louise Fitzhugh, except that I owed her an immense debt both for Harriet and for helping me understand what was actually happening with my newly menstruating body when I read "The Long Secret."

Brody presents a satisfying portrait of Harriet's creator, a person as real and messy and passionate and complicated as the iconic character she brought to life. Fitzhugh was also an accomplished artist, outspoken against racism, and a person who strove to live a life true to herself, openly gay in an era when that took guts. I chose well for my first read of the year.

[Jennifer · Rating 3 out of 5]

I grew up with Harriet the Spy so I expected to like its author, Louise Fitzhugh. Her life was incredibly interesting and that’s covered — detailed, really — in this biography.

While I learned a great deal, this book could’ve used an aggressive editor. It’s one-third longer than it should be and contains some content that is neither here nor there in the profile of the author; just too much of a good thing.

[Cflack · Rating 2 out of 5]

I loved Harriet the Spy and The Long Secret which I read as a child in the late 1960s so I was very interested to learn more about Louise Fitzhugh the author. The book is well researched and Fitzhugh is a very complex and compelling artist, but the writing was very clunky and dull. From my perspective it needed better editing. There were so many trivial details which did not add much.

And the. And then. And then.

[Patti aka Sils(bycarr) Patterson · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this biography almost as much as I love Harriet the Spy. What an engaging read about an amazing, and all too short, life.

[Skylis]

update: book group’s discussion of details in the second half of the book convinced me to finish this some day. my complaints still stand, but i am interested in the stories about her time as a published author.

dnf @ 51%. this could have been an okay read if edited down to 200 pages. as it stands, the writing was unbearably dull, and the narrative overly focused on Fitzhugh’s dating relationships and travels. i understand most of the information had to come from other people’s accounts of Fitzhugh, and organizing the story around those relationships would be easy for piecing the story together, but a honed narrative with greater focus on what Fitzhugh felt at different points in her life would have improved the narrative. many details included from those sources added little valuable content, and bogged down the entire reading experience.

having listened to the audiobook, i learned from other reviews that the art described with such detail was the only way readers experience the art. almost no works of herr were reproduced for this biography. Fitzhugh’s estate clearly did not want anyone sharing the details of her life and works.

between the terrible editing, the paucity of information on the subject of the biography, and the barriers to including content of higher quality, this was a huge disappointment.

[J. Brendan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Super fun and engaging biography about Louise Fitzhugh who was not only the author of a childhood fave but also a visual artist and at the center of overlapping worlds of queer women in the New York City art and publishing worlds. I think at times the author does indulge in a bit of imagining about the historical context (what they would have been reading/watching) but that helps give a fuller picture of the world of these women. I would be curious to read more about Fitzhugh's gender play which is discussed in a biographical context here but certainly could be drawn out further. The closing examination of the close grasp the Fitzhugh estate keeps on her documents illuminates some of the unfortunate gaps here but overall Brody does a great job bringing Fitzhugh to life and I definitely want to reread Harriet the Spy immediately.

[John (Hey Y'all Listen Up) · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you're a fan of Harriet the Spy and don't mind seeing behind the scenes of its creation, this book is for you. The book does give spoilers for her works, so you may want to read those first. The book is also of interest to anyone who is interesting in writers or the history of the times Fitzhugh lived (1920s-1970s). I would hesitate to recommend this book to anyone else however. There is something outputting about the writing style that I can't put into words. Fitzhugh isn't the most likeable of people either.

[Andrew Sampson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Harriet the Spy is queer canon confirmed

[Robert · Rating 5 out of 5]

A wonderful biography. I'm grateful to Leslie Brody for giving us this long overdue, fully rounded portrait of an extraordinary woman and fantastic writer—not to mention queer icon. Loved it. And it's time to read Harriet the Spy again, for like, the twentieth time.

[Angela Williamson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Harriet the Spy is one of the books from my childhood which stuck with me always. When I saw Sometimes You Have to Lie I was excited to read more about the author. After I read Harriet, I began people watching, trying to puzzle out their lives and figuring out what makes people do the things they do. One of the things I loved was that Fitzhugh's own way of living her life, not following the rules and living her own life and there is nothing wrong with being a little different and quirky. That's what I took form Harriet and love that the author taught me that. This interesting, well written biography made me pull out my old copy and read again for nostalgia.
Thanks NetGalley and Leslie Brody for a chance to read this book for a review and reclaim some of my childhood!

[Carolyn Whitzman · Rating 5 out of 5]

As Alison Bechtel said of this book: “I always suspected Louise Fitzhugh was a lesbian. Now I know - what a lesbian!” The author of my favourite book as a child, Harriet the Spy, was just as brash, self-confident and irrepressible as her most famous character. The product of a truly Dickensian childhood (millionaire father gets sole custody, tells child his showgirl mother is dead, mother shows up one day… a lifetime of therapy right there), Fitzhugh ran away to all of the best places: Paris, Bologna, Greenwich Village. She was intensely out from the 1940s to the 1960s, a talented artist as well as a writer, a gamine-like cutie, and lived life to the fullest. Leslie Brody, who previously wrote a biography of another of my literary heroes, Jessica Mitford, is a good but not great writer. Furthermore, the photo selection is abysmal: we keep on hearing about Fitzhugh’s fascinating paintings but they aren’t shown (other than a bit of a mural in the background). the two men she very briefly dated get photos but not several of her long-term female lovers. Hmph. Still, I highly recommend the book for its subject. Off to re-read Harriet the Spy again!

[Nancy · Rating 1 out of 5]

Terrible. The writing was pedestrian and ungrammatical, the commentary shallow. Moreover, there was a whole lot of padding of the “would have” “might have” “may have” variety, eked out by mundane comments on the zeitgeist. I’d hoped to hold out until Louise got to New York in hope of a more interesting and better documented account, but I couldn’t do it. Abandoned a quarter of the way through. But I have only myself to blame; I see I gave two stars to the other book of the author’s I’ve read.

[Tricia · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really enjoyed the story of Louise's parents and childhood, growing up a privileged and rebellious white queer woman in the American South. I also really appreciated seeing her work her way through romantic attractions to men without any sexual interest. But I could never fully relate to Louise Fitzhugh, as she seemed dramatic and tempestuous, and I kind of lost track of the various love interests that came in and out of her life. If I had more of a connection to Harriet the Spy, I might have enjoyed this more.

[Amanda Mae · Rating 5 out of 5]

An absolutely delightful and engaging biography on the woman behind one of my favorite books, Harriet the Spy. I knew absolutely nothing about Louise Fitzhugh prior to reading this, and found her a truly wonderful artist who knew so many people and had a genuine talent that Harriet the Spy was able to exemplify... but she had so much more to offer. I highly recommend this to fans of Harriet, anyone who appreciates LGBTQ+ history, and fans of midcentury literature in general.

[Jodie · Rating 3 out of 5]

For such a fascinating subject, I found this to be plodding and sluggish. A short book that I read daily, and it still took almost two weeks to read. I understand some constraints that Louise's estate made might have made it difficult to really delve into Louise's life, but it seemed to veer far too much into other people's lives.

[CarolineFromConcord · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wondered about the impetus for a biography about a woman known mainly for the children's book *Harriet the Spy* and for the novel on which *Tap Dance Kid* was based. Her Gothic Southern childhood with a wealthy, angry father, her Bohemian life in Greenwich Village, her famous artistic friends, the gallery shows for her paintings all make interesting reading, but are not that unusual.

It's my feeling that the book was intended to use Louise Fitzhugh as a representative of the unknown world of specific creatives in 1950s and 1960s New York--career women who were casting directors, actors, painters, poets, writers--people whose names you may have heard without knowing they were all women who loved women. Together they led a life of cautious freedom. Many were already open about their sexuality, but they all knew *Sometimes You Have to Lie.*

These women seem to have paired off frequently. Louise had many partners--sometimes men but mostly women. Her relationships never lasted more than a few years, disintegrating after the novelty wore off or the comfort of a comfortable routine began to feel uncomfortable. All of the women were focused on careers as one sure path to fulfillment. For Fitzhugh, that path lay first through art and then through writing.

Fitzhugh's funny, ornery Harriet has been lauded as the first realistic protagonist in children's literature, although I'm not sure that's accurate. She has her rages and her swear words, but so did Beverly Cleary's Ramona. Fitzhugh's realism is more along the lines of how children have to deal with what is often a pretty shitty world.

The fact that I had read a biography of Cleary recently (see GoodReads review) and one of Gothic Southern writer Flannery O'Connor (ditto) added interest to my reading about Fitzhugh. O'Connor's determination to become a writer despite the forces against her in the South involved highly rated workshops and retreats. She could be stubborn about her artistic choices, but Fitzhugh was more fiercely resistant to anyone telling her how to do anything.

Meanwhile, Cleary's path, like Fitzhugh's, involved a struggle with a controlling parent, but she fought her way from poverty not wealth and had a boy-girl love life that could have been painted by Norman Rockwell.

Although at first I wasn't sure why Fitzhugh merited a biography, I found the book interesting reading, and Fitzhugh's story curiously sad. The bitter war between her parents, her being taken for good from her mother at age 2, and the crushing conventions of the Memphis of her childhood set her up for death from alcohol at 46 and for success that reads like failure. Despite all her friends and admirers, she comes across as a hopelessly lonely person.