Author Talk with Mark Oppenheimer: Judy Blume: A Life

In JUDY BLUME, Oppenheimer pens a beautiful, multidimensional portrait and goes deep, exploring Blume’s middle-class upbringing in the shadow of World War II and the cultural shifts she lived through; her complicated childhood; her family’s Jewish heritage, varied relationships and marriages; her unabashed sexual experiences; her bouts of heartache and loss; and her enduring legacy as a champion of free speech and contemporary literature in an age of book-banning.

This biography recognizes how Blume’s life experiences, including her childhood in New Jersey and Miami Beach, her father’s sudden death, her early
marriage, her short, misbegotten second marriage, and her divorces echo through her novels, mirroring themes in such classics as Starring Sally J. Freedman as Herself, Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret, and Wifey.