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Ethel Portnoy was born in Philadelphia but grew up in the Bronx in New York as the daughter of Russian-Jewish immigrants. She studied French literature in the United States, then departed in 1950 to Europe. She also studied cultural anthropology and archeology in Paris with Claude Lévi-Strauss. In 1951, she married the Dutch author Rudy Kousbroek (1929-2010), and raised two children.

Portnoy debuted in 1971 at the age of 44 with the book Steen en Been. She wrote all her books in English, but considered herself a Dutch writer. Her books were translated by her (ex-)husband, their daughter Hepzibah Kousbroek (1954-2009) and Tinke Davids.