Lee Israel

Lee Israel is the narrator and author of this autobiography. It is a confessional story in which Israel describes how she came to be forging and stealing letters and then selling these stolen and forged letters in order to support herself.

Israel notes that she believes she did not do well when a biography she wrote about Lauder failed to sell as well as her publisher imagined that it would. She had written two books previously, both of which had sold well, one of which put Israel on the best-selling list for the New York Times. After the Lauder book failed, Israel reasons that she was unable to get a job not only because of her lack of skills but also because she had a personality that other people found difficult. Israel also notes that her impulsivity with money probably also had some impact on the...