Claire Dederer
"A huge hit in her day, Betty MacDonald was too funny and too popular (and maybe too female) to be taken seriously. Paula Becker's Looking for Betty MacDonald—part biography, part literary criticism, part memoir—does a cracking job of rehabilitating this sparkling writer’s reputation. There are those of us who have been true believers all along, poring over MacDonald’s four hilarious and beautifully detailed memoirs of mid-century Northwest domestic life. Becker’s book rounds out the picture, weaving the darker strands of the author’s life story into a nuanced whole."
George Meyer
"Readers of Betty MacDonald love her for her pluck and clear-eyed wit. Now Paula Becker presents the writer's brief but exuberant life in this timely and heartfelt biography. As she presses her palms to the polished wood floor of Betty’s former home, I felt the melting joy and melancholy of the true soulmate."
Barron Lerner
Thank goodness Paula Becker has resurrected the life story of Betty MacDonald, perhaps the only author who has ever made tuberculosis funny. Carefully researched and written with great warmth and spirit, Looking for Betty MacDonald reintroduces readers to a woman who may have been America’s wittiest writer in the mid-twentieth century. We tend to think of observational comedy as a modern phenomenon, but it may have begun over 75 years ago on a chicken farm in Washington State.
Barron H. Lerner
"Thank goodness Paula Becker has resurrected the life story of Betty MacDonald, perhaps the only author who has ever made tuberculosis funny. Carefully researched and written with great warmth and spirit, Looking for Betty MacDonald reintroduces readers to a woman who may have been America’s wittiest writer in the mid-twentieth century. We tend to think of observational comedy as a modern phenomenon, but it may have begun over 75 years ago on a chicken farm in Washington State."
Julie Myerson
"A passionate, wise and tender exploration of a surprisingly compelling life. Becker’s fascination for her subject is utterly contagious: I found myself late-night Googling Betty, determined to track down everything she ever wrote!"
