Barbara Grizzuti Harrison

Barbara Grizzuti Harrison was an American journalist, essayist and memoirist. She is best known for her autobiographical work, particularly her account of growing up as one of Jehovah's Witnesses, and for her travel writing. Barbara Grizzuti was born in Queens, New York City, on 14 September 1934. Her parents were first-generation Americans; her grandparents were immigrants from Calabria in Southern Italy. She later described her childhood as deeply troubled. Her mother, who apparently suffered from mental illness, was emotionally distant and insisted on describing herself as "Barbara's... relative", not her mother. Near the end of her life Harrison also revealed that her father had sexually abused her. The turmoil of her childhood would have a strong influence on her writing. When Harrison was 9, she and her mother were converted by a Jehovah's Witness missionary who visited the family. Harrison's father and brother did not convert, and this caused a rift in the household. Harrison's mother immersed herself totally in her new faith, even making a pact with a Witness man to marry after Harrison's father had perished in the last judgement.
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