Sometimes You Have to Lie

The Life and Times of Louise Fitzhugh, Renegade Author of Harriet the Spy

Sometimes You Have to Lie
Leslie Brody
RRP:
NZ$ 49.99
Our Price:
NZ$ 39.99
Hardback
h235 x 152mm - 352pg
17 Dec 2020 US
International import eta 7-19 days
9781580057691
Out Of Stock
Currently no stock in-store, stock is sourced to your order
The protagonist and anti-heroine of Louise Fitzhugh' s masterpiece Harriet the Spy, first published first in 1964, continues to mesmerize generation after generation of readers. Harriet is an erratic, unsentimental, and endearing prototype--someone very like the woman who dreamed her up, author and artist Louise Fitzhugh. Born in 1928, Fitzhugh was raised in a wealthy home in segregated Memphis, and she escaped her cloistered world and made a beeline for New York as soon as she could. Her expanded milieu stretched from the lesbian bars of Greenwich Village to the dance clubs of Harlem, on to the resurgent artist studios of post-war New York, France, and Italy. Her circle of friends included artists like Maurice Sendak and playwrights like Lorraine Hansberry. In the 1960s, Fitzhugh wrote Harriet the Spy, and in doing so she introduced "new realism" into children' s books-she launched a genre of children' s books that allowed characters to experience authentic feelings and acknowledged topics that were formerly considered taboo. Fitzhugh' s books are full of resistance: to liars, to conformity, to authority, and even (radically, for a children' s author) to make-believe. As a commercial children' s author and lesbian, Fitzhugh often had to disguise the nature of her most intimate relationships. She lived her life as a dissenter--a friend to underdogs, outsiders, and artists--and her masterpiece remains long after her death to influence and provoke new generations of readers. Harriet is massively influential among girls and women in contemporary culture; she is the missing link between Jo March and Scout Finch, and it' s not surprising that writers have thought of her as a kind of patron saint for misfit writers and unfeminine girls. This lively, rich biography brings Harriet' s creator into the frame, shedding new light on an extraordinary author and her marvelous creation.
"Harriet the Spy was a tough, smart, vulnerable, funny, unsentimental, and deeply observant little kid who was a born writer, much like her creator, the wonderful Louise Fitzhugh. She was a heroine unlike any children' s book heroine who preceded her. If you loved Harriet, if you still think about her from time to time, you will love this book. "-- Roz Chast, author of Can' t We Talk About Something More Pleasant? "I' ve never been more intensely curious about a writer' s life, nor more thwarted in finding anything out about that life, than I have been in the case of Louise Fitzhugh. At some point I deduced that the very lack of information likely answered my most burning question-was she a lesbian? But that was little preparation for the true story. What a lesbian! And what a life! Leslie Brody serves up an almost unbearably gratifying tale in her much-anticipated biography, Sometimes You Have To Lie. Southern Gothic childhood. Escape to Greenwich Village and Europe. Famous friends. String of lovers. Cross-dressing. Publishing gossip. Even a lost manuscript. I was especially pleased to learn so much about the painting career of this groundbreaking writer who considered herself just as much a visual artist. I only wish Brody' s book, and Fitzhugh' s life, had been much, much longer. "-- Alison Bechdel, author of Fun Home "What a role model Harriet the Spy was for a kid: whip-smart, curious, and bold. It turns out her creator, Louise Fitzhugh, was just as daring. Sometimes You Have to Lie is a rollicking and insightful biography about a modern literary heroine. "--Anne Zimmerman, author of An Extravagant Hunger: The Passionate Years of M. F. K. Fisher "When you read Sometimes You Have to Lie, you become like Harriet, spying on Louise Fitzhugh. This wonderfully written biography lets readers walk in Louise' s footsteps, as if taking notes on countless details of her complicated, rich life. "-- Jack Gantos, author of the Rotten Ralph series "With clear-eyed compassion, Leslie Brody pulls back the curtain to reveal the complex, delicate, fierce woman whose imagination created our beloved Harriet the Spy, and so much more. I was fascinated and moved by Louise Fitzhugh' s struggles to be and do and have all she desired, and I feel richer for the experience of getting to know her. "--Therese Anne Fowler, author of Z: A Novel of Zelda Fitzgerald "It has taken a really good spy, in Leslie Brody, to come up with the story we' ve been waiting to get our hands on for all our reading lifetimes. Sometimes You Have to Lie does the greatest honor to Louise Fitzhugh and her brilliant avatar, Harriet the Spy: It tells the truth. "--Gregory Maguire, author of Wicked and Egg & Spoon
Leslie Brody is a biographer, playwright, and professor of creative writing. She adapted Harriet the Spy for the stage in 1988 and is the recipient of a National Endowment for the Arts award and a PEN America award for creative nonfiction. She has been an on-staff book columnist for Elle magazine. She lives in Redlands, California.
Status: Active
ISBN-13: 9781580057691
Published: 17 Dec 2020
Published In: United States
Imprint: Seal Press
Publisher: Seal Press
Format: Hardback
Height: 235mm
Width: 152mm
Pages: 352

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