Very Much a Lady

Jean Harris belonged to the last generation of American women brought up to believe that all good girls get married. But instead she embarked upon a fourteen-year affair with Dr. Herman Tarnower, the charismatic man behind the famous Scarsdale Diet. One night in 1980, this prim headmistress of the exclusive Madeira girls' school shot Dr. Tarnower to death in a case that shocked the nation. Was Jean Harris a jealous woman bent on deadly revenge? Or the confused victim of a predatory womanizer who kept her docile with smooth talk and a steady diet of painkillers? Acclaimed journalist Shana Alexander exposes the dark truths surrounding the killing, takes us into the maelstrom of the sensational murder trial, and ultimately presents a complex, unforgettable portrait of a woman doomed by her own unattainable desires.