Dark Secret

by Joyce Johnson

After the tragic loss of her father and brothers at sea, Emily couldn't provide for the rest of the family by continuing the family tradition of fishing as her father's boat had been lost in the accident and he hadn't kept up the insurance payments on it. So, the family moved to relatives in Plymouth. Emily obtained a position as housemaid at Mountford Hall - though she could never have foreseen what fate had in store for her when she took up her new post...

200 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2000

About the author

Born Joyce Glassman to a Jewish family in Queens, New York, Joyce was raised on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, just around the corner from the apartment of William S. Burroughs and Joan Vollmer Burroughs. Allen Ginsberg and Kerouac were frequent visitors to Burroughs' apartment.

At the age of 13, Joyce rebelled against her controlling parents and began hanging out in Washington Square. She matriculated at Barnard College at 16, failing her graduation by one class. It was at Barnard that she became friends with Elise Cowen (briefly Allen Ginsberg's lover) who introduced her to the Beat circle. Ginsberg arranged for Glassman and Kerouac to meet on a blind date.

Joyce was married briefly to abstract painter James Johnson, who was killed in a motorcycle accident. From her second marriage to painter Peter Pinchbeck, which ended in divorce, came her son, Daniel Pinchbeck, also an author and co-founder of Open City literary magazine.

Since 1983 she has taught writing, primarily at Columbia University's MFA program, but also at the Breadloaf Writers Conference, the University of Vermont and New York University. In 1992 she received an NEA grant.