Cathy Curtis Knihy

In 1959, when thirty-seven-year-old Nell Blaine was an acclaimed young painter in New York, she contracted polio on a trip to Greece, rendering her a paraplegic. Remastering her painting skills, she became one of America's great watercolorists, with a rhythmic, colorful style that animated landscapes, city views, and still lifes.

The first biography of the extraordinary essayist and short story writer Elizabeth Hardwick, author of the semi-autobiographical novel Sleepless Nights