Audrey Clare Farley is a writer, editor, and scholar of twentieth-century American culture. She earned a PhD in English literature at University of Maryland, College Park. She now teaches U.S. history at Mount St. Mary’s University and creative nonfiction writing for Narratively.
Her first book, The Unfit Heiress: The Tragic Life and Scandalous Sterilization of Ann Cooper Hewitt, tells the story of a 1930s millionairess whose mother secretly sterilized her to deprive her of the family fortune, sparking a sensational case and forcing a debate of eugenics. Her second book, Girls and Their Monsters: The Genain Quadruplets and the Making of Madness in America, explores the lives of the four women behind NIMH’s famous case study of schizophrenia. It was named a Michigan Notable Book and a New York Times Editors’ Pick.
Audrey’s essays have appeared in The Atlantic, New York Times, Washington Post, and many other outlets. She lives in Hanover, Pennsylvania.
For updates on her work and publications, follow her on Twitter @AudreyCFarley.