BrooklynRail.org – by Eleanor Bader
She?s Not The Man I Married
When writer Helen Boyd (born Gail Kramer) was growing up, she wanted to be C.S. Lewis. ?What that meant was unclear,? she laughs, sitting in her small Park Slope living room, a pack of Camels by her side.
The youngest of six, Boyd was a questioning child who took great pleasure in books and music. By adolescence the constraints of her working-class Long Island town had her fleeing into Manhattan, taking in shows at the Ritz and shopping at record stores selling British vinyl. After high school, she attended Fordham, The New School, and City College and supported herself with office work, bookkeeping, and canvassing for the New York Public Interest Research Group (NYPIRG).