Paula Fox was a renowned American author, known for her works in young adult, children's, and literary fiction novels, as well as non-fiction books. She was born in New York City on April 22, 1923, to a screenwriter mother from Cuba, Elsie De Sola, and an English teacher and screenplay writer father, Paul Hervey Fox. However, Fox's childhood was far from ordinary as she was rejected by her mother at birth and left at a foundling home. She was later rescued by her maternal grandmother, Candelaria De Sola, and lived with her while moving around Cuba, Florida, and the United States. When Fox was five years old, she went to meet her parents, but the encounter left her feeling like a prisoner of war, which she would later describe as a traumatic experience in one of her memoirs.
Fox's adult novels failed to gather much audience, and her publishing career came to a halt in 1992. However, her children's books gained immense popularity, leading to a revival of her adult books in the mid-90s. Some aspiring American writers championed her works, and she saw a resurgence in her career. Fox's children's books earned her numerous prestigious awards, including the Newbery Medal, the National Book Award, and the Hans Christian Andersen Medal. In 2011, she was inducted into the Writers Hall of Fame of the New York State. Fox was married to literary critic and translator Martin Greenberg and had two sons and a daughter she gave up for adoption, Linda Carroll, who is the mother of musician Courtney Love. Paula Fox passed away on March 01, 2017, in Brooklyn, New York, at the age of 93, leaving behind a legacy of exceptional literary works.