Ms. Fox wrote more than a dozen children’s books, including “The Slave Dancer,” winner of the Newbery Medal in 1974. While growing up, Ms. Fox lived everywhere from a plantation in Cuba to a boarding school in Montreal. A devoted reader since childhood, Ms. Fox did not publish a book until she was past 40. The future author of “Freedom” and “The Corrections” came upon “Desperate Characters” while at the Yaddo writers colony in 1991. He looked in stores, without luck, and finally got in touch with Ms. Fox, who sent him one of her copies.

Source: Washington Post March 04, 2017 15:22 UTC