McNulty, Faith 1918–2005

OBITUARY NOTICE—See index for CA sketch: Born November 28, 1918, in New York, NY; died April 10, 2005, in Wakefield, RI. Journalist and author. McNulty gained fame as the author of The Burning Bed, but most of her writing was comprised of books for children and adults that passed along her love of nature. With a mother who was a founder of a chapter of the Animal Rescue League and grandparents who owned a farm she often visited, McNulty's love of animals came naturally. After briefly attending Barnard College in the late 1930s, she dropped out of school to work as a journalist. World War II found her working in London for the Office of War Information, after which she married New Yorker writer John McNulty. After writing for the New York Daily News and Life magazine, she also began contributing to the New Yorker. A full-time staff writer from 1953 until 1994, she contributed to the magazine's "Talk of the Town" column and also wrote an annual review of children's books. When she and her husband bought a farm they named "Bittersweet," her love of nature quickly resurfaced. Not long after, McNulty began writing books for children and adults, most of which feature nature and animals. She published over two dozen children's books, including such titles as Prairie Dog Summer (1972) and Listening to Whales Sing (1995), as well as more serious titles involving a conservation message for adults, such as The Whooping Crane: The Bird That Defies Extinction (1966) and Must They Die?: The Strange Case of the Prairie Dog and the Black-footed Ferret (1971). McNulty was especially famous for her book The Burning Bed (1980), a true tale about one woman's vengeance against her wife-beating husband that was later adapted as a movie. McNulty continued to write actively into the twenty-first century. Her last title, for children, was If You Go to the Moon (2003).

OBITUARIES AND OTHER SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Los Angeles Times, April 17, 2005, p. B14.

New York Times, April 17, 2005, p. A31.

Washington Post, April 14, 2005, p. B7.