Monogamy

“Oh Mother, dammit! Why did you bring me up to think that this was what I wanted?”: Judy Blume, Wifey (New York: Berkley Books, 1978), p. 119.

In April 1977, she penned a respectful note to Mercier: Box 27 of the Judy Blume Papers at Yale University’s Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library. Accessed April 1, 2022.

In the meantime, she scarfed down way too many glazed donuts: Judy Blume, Wifey, Introduction, p. x.

Lisbeth “explained it as Sandy’s need to control her own destiny”: Ibid., p. 16.

“What are you doing?”: Ibid., p. 61.

“I used to know that [sex scenes] were good”: Brandon Sanchez, “Sex Between the Pages of the New Yorker Festival,” Vulture. https://www.vulture.com/2023/10/new-yorker-festival-2023-book-sex-scenes-judy-blume.html#_ga=2.9118197.170374204.1701972221-1398311225.1701972221.

“That’s why I douche with vinegar…”: Judy Blume, Wifey, p. 23.

“I won’t forbid you from seeing him, Sandy”: Ibid., p. 88.

“Make his interests your interests”: Ibid., p. 60.

“She wasn’t sure. If he beat her, she could complain”: Ibid., p. 190.

“To me she’ll always be Sarah”: Ibid., p. 30.

“They’re still different no matter how hard you try to pretend they’re not”: Ibid., p. 42.

“The natives are restless everywhere”: Ibid., p. 107.

“Don’t worry Mr. Pressman, we’re known for our discretion at Four Corners”: Ibid., p. 212.

“Marriage to him would have meant a life”: Ibid., p. 247.

“When I think of all the energy, all the misplaced artistic aggression”: Erica Jong, Fear of Flying (Fort Worth, TX: Holt, Rinehart & Winston, 1973), p. 205.

“She had been a spirited, adventurous young woman”: Gloria Steinem, “Ruth’s Song (Because She Could Not Sing It). Accessed as a PDF online: https://englishiva1011.pbworks.com/f/RUTHSONG.PDF.

“The family must have watched this energetic, fun-loving, book-loving woman”: Ibid.

“The world still missed a unique person named Ruth”: Ibid.

Essie typed out many of Judy’s manuscripts over the years: Sarah Larson, “Judy Blume’s Unfinished Endings,” The New Yorker, April 25, 2023. Accessed online: https://www.newyorker.com/culture/persons-of-interest/judy-blumes-unfinished-endings.

“When they ask how she knows all those things”: Judy Blume, Wifey, Introduction, p. xii.

Chapter Sixteen

Divorce

“I don’t think we could have survived two more years together”: Judy Blume, Letters to Judy, p. 125.

Meanwhile, publicists at Blume’s paperback publisher, Dell: Email with Sarah Gallick, June 22, 2022.

He handled it “brilliantly,” Blume said: V.C. Chickering, “A Judy Blume Interview from the Bust Archives,” Bust, February 12, 2015, originally published in the 1997 Spring/Summer issue. Accessed online: https://bust.com/tbt-a-very-special-judy-blume-exclusive-from-our-bust-vault/.

“Adult readers will enjoy this light romance”: Library Journal, September 1, 1978.

The reviewer from the LA Times praised Blume’s abilities: Marilyn Murray Willison, “Judy Blume Writes One for the Grown-Ups,” Los Angeles Times, September 24, 1978, p. K8.

“a bawdy account of a suburban wife’s rebellion”: Eric Pace, “Fictional Heroines with a Will,” New York Times, November 22, 1979.

Reviewer Sue Isaacs suggested, in a culturally prescient takedown: Sue Isaacs, “Hello Grown-Ups, It’s Me Judy,” Washington Post, October 8, 1978, p. E5.

Newsday attributed it to a librarian in Garden City, New York: David Behrens, “Sugar—And a Little Spice,” Newsday, March 1, 1978, p. 1A.

“I cringe, even today, thinking of that article”: Judy Blume, Wifey (New York: Berkley Books, 1978), Introduction, p. xi.

“We have a very nice family life”: Mary Daniels, “Preteen Readers Find Their Boswell in Blume,” Chicago Tribune, June 23, 1978, p. D3.

by November 1979, there were a reported three million copies: Eric Pace, “Fictional Heroines with a Will,” New York Times, November 22, 1979.

“I think divorce is a tragedy, traumatic and horribly painful for everybody”: Peter Gorner, “Tempo: The Giddy/Sad, Flighty/Solid Life of Judy Blume,” Chicago Tribune, March 15, 1985, p. D1.

“My breasts were growing or else they were just fat”: Judy Blume, Just as Long as We’re Together (New York: Orchard Books, 1987), p. 190.

“I hate not knowing what’s going to happen!”: Ibid., p. 263.

Most of the kids who contacted Judy received a mailer in return: Mailer viewed at the Elizabeth Public Library’s main branch, June 28, 2022.

“Could you sort of be a second mother to me and tell me the facts of life?”: Judy Blume, Letters to Judy, p. 179.

Besides family and doctors you are the only person I’ve ever told this to: Ibid., p. 259.

“With her own children, Judy Blume concedes”: Joyce Maynard, “Coming of Age with Judy Blume,” New York Times, December 3, 1978.

“During a particularly rough time for our family my daughter, Randy”: Judy Blume, Letters to Judy, p. 10.

Chapter Seventeen

Fame

“One day, there’s going to be Judy Blume tampons”: Barbara Karlin, “Blume Speaks Out on Speaking Out,” Los Angeles Times, October 18, 1981, p. E6.

“The book struck me as incredibly candid”: Telephone interview with Dean Butler, April 5, 2023.

“Oh come on,” Michael says in an early sequence: John Korty, director, Forever, 1978.

“She was resolute about that,” he remembered: DB to RB, April 5, 2023.

“I see a bright young girl with a full life ahead of her”: John Korty, director, Forever, 1978.