I didn't come to this book "cold." I have seen interviews with and documentary TV programs about Mrs. Harris, read another book about her, and viewed both HBO's "Mrs. Harris" and an earlier, excellent TV movie about her trial which utilized trial transcripts for the dialogue. Shana Alexander's detailed, nuanced book about the life of the woman whom she quickly came to admire and sympathize with gets my vote, however, for how Mrs. Harris should be remembered. Being mesmerized by need and wonderful memories into continuing in an increasingly unrewarding, even degrading, relationship is a phenomenon which both men and women, uneducated or as impressively literate as Jean Harris, can understand. Things can go terribly wrong, particularly when one partner in the relationship seemingly is incapable of true commitment or even of empathy (Dr. T), and the other is under the spell of not only of lost love remembered but of sudden forced withdrawal from mood-altering, inappropriately prescribed medication. Ms. Alexander's book gives a fascinating, multi-faceted look at an uber-capable, extremely responsible adult female who goes through the windshield one appropriately dark and stormy night after long-term endurance of disrespect, flagrant cheating, and neglect and short-term drug-induced crashing depression and panic. Before being released from prison, Jean Harris spent years helping her fellow inmates and their children and writing lucid, compassionate books about this experience; much to her credit, her excellent biographer includes this information in this book. I hope Mrs. Harris, whenever she passes away, lives through the admiration and love of her own children, whom she cared for more than herself, as well as that of a wider audience introduced to her in this work. As for Dr. Tarnower, I hope he is remembered as what Mrs. Harris feared he would be: a "diet Doc."

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