Harriette Gillem Robinet was born July 14, 1931, in Washington, D.C. She is the daughter of Richard Avitus and Martha Gray, both teachers. She spent her childhood in Arlington, Virginia, where her maternal grandfather had been a slave under General Robert E. Lee. She attended the College of New Rochelle in New York and received her master's and doctorate degrees from Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C. She lives with her husband, McLouis Robinet, in Oak Park, Illinois. Before turning to writing in 1962, she worked as a bacteriologist in Children's Hospital, Washington, D.C., a medical bacteriologist at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, a research bacteriologist at Xavier University in New Orleans, Louisiana, an instructor in biology for the U.S. Army, and as a civilian food bacteriologist. She has six children and four grandchildren. A son afflicted with cerebral palsy has influenced...