She wrote few books before her death in 1974, at the young age of 46, and her last romantic partner took pains to keep as much of Louise’s salacious past - including her sexuality - under wraps. Photo by Lilyan Chauvin with permission of Julie Ann Johnson In 1951 Louise Fitzhugh moved to Greenwich Village and fell in with an artistic lesbian crowd, including photographer Gina Jackson. She was a lesbian who dressed in tailored suits and capes and had multiple affairs with women and a few men. She was a pint-sized heiress with a dysfunctional Southern family. According to a new biography, Fitzhugh led a secret life that would have thrilled her nosy heroine. It’s a motto that “Harriet the Spy” author Louise Fitzhugh could have called her own.

Her main takeaway is that “sometimes you have to lie” to keep people from hating you. In the end, her clever takedowns land her a blockbuster gossip column in the school newspaper. She’s also not very nice: She throws tantrums, hides a frog in her frenemy’s desk and refuses to apologize when her classmates discover the disparaging dossiers she’s written on them. She’s mostly a gossipmonger, obsessed with chronicling the people around her and figuring out what makes them tick. Welsch does not solve mysteries, like that goody-two-shoes gumshoe Nancy Drew. She snoops on her neighbors - sneaking into dumbwaiters and scaling the roofs of apartment buildings - while jotting down shockingly frank observations, like “DOES HIS MOTHER HATE HIM? IF I HAD HIM I’D HATE HIM.” The 11-year-old heroine of the 1964 classic “ Harriet the Spy” is a street-smart tomboy who galumphs around her Upper East Side neighborhood in ratty jeans and a hoodie. Publisher drops children’s illustrator for posting anti-trans notes in publicĪuthor James Patterson rips New York Times over its ‘bonkers’ Best Sellers list How one of North America’s most daring criminals was finally caughtĪdoption rights activist recalls crusade to access birth records

Louise fitzhugh