Paula Fox

Paula Fox understands childhood abandonment and loneliness-which is why she writes about it so well.

Born in New York in 1923, Fox's parents-her father was a Hollywood screenwriter and novelist-were rarely present and showed little of parenting ability when they did show up. Her mother, who didn't abort her only because she found out too late in the pregnancy that she was pregnant, dropped her off at a foundling home in New York shortly after she was born. From there, she was passed from home to home, including a stay when she was five with Uncle Elwood, a Congregational minister who taught her "civility and kindness."

At age 8, she spent two years on a Cuban plantation with her Spanish grandmother and went to a one-room schoolhouse. It was the only time during her childhood where there was no library for her to take solace in.

Though she determined at age 7 that she wanted to be a writer, she didn't publish her first novel until she was 43. She was first a teacher, a book reader for Warner, a salesperson, model, and lathe operator. Since then she has written books for both adults and children and won a Newbery Award along the way.

Fox is grandmother to Kurt Cobain's widow, Courtney Love, whose mother was the daughter that Fox gave up for adoption when she was 20. She is also distantly related to Douglas Fairbanks.

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--B. Redman