Stranger in Two Worlds / Jean Harris

The woman who was convicted of the murder of Dr. Herman Tarnower traces the course of her life from her childhood and years as a working mother to her appointment as headmistress of the fashionable Madeira School and relationship with Dr. Tarnower

Harris, convicted in 1981 of murdering her lover Herman Tarnower, the "Scarsdale diet doctor," is now serving a 15-year-to-life prison sentence. In this autobiography, she pleads her innocence, claiming, as she did in her trial, that she only planned to use the gun on herself. Charging that she was a victim of the press, she asserts that witnesses changed their testimony to aid the prosecution, that Tarnower's "other women" lied on the stand, that ballistics tests were misinterpreted and that Tarnower's life could have been saved if he had been rushed to the hospital. The first half of her narrative is bathed in warm self-pity as she describes, in often tedious detail, her 19-year marriage to a "nice" man, her idyllic romance with Tarnower, years of teaching in private schools and her growing depression. In the last chapters she draws sharp portraits of fellow inmates and bitterly protests the inequities of a penal system that largely punishes the poor and powerless. 100,000 first printing; $75,000 ad/promo; first serial to Good Housekeeping; BOMC alternate.
Copyright 1986 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Harris, former headmistress of the exclusive Madeira School, was convicted of murdering her lover, Herman Tarnower, the Scarsdale diet doctor. From prison, Harris tells her story, focusing on her life prior to and following Tarnower's death. Readers expecting startling new revelations will be disppointed. Harris firmly maintains that the shooting was an accident, but refers to it mainly by repeating her trial testimony. Shana Alexander's sympathetic Very Much a Lady ( LJ 1/1/83) is still the best account of the case. By turns, proud, prudish, intelligent, and disillusioned, Harris's character clearly comes through. Guilty or innocent, she is a survivorand a very literate woman as well. Given the author's notoriety, this book will be much in demand. BOMC alternate. Gregor A. Preston, Univ. of California Lib., Davis
Copyright 1986 Reed Business Information, Inc.