Johana Harris: A Biography. By Ethel Paquin. Lanham, MD: Scarecrow Press, 2011. [xv, 256 p. ISBN 9780810877603. $65.] Illustrations. Ethel Paquin's Johana Harris: A Biography is the first full-length biography of the renowned pianist, teacher, and composer whose birth name was Duffey. The book is in some ways a psychobiography. Its first sentence is Mary Beula Aleta Duffey was born to a mother who didn't want her, and Beula/Johana's difficult relationship with her mother is a strong thread throughout the book. The writing style is highly engaging, at times somewhat breezy, and sometimes humorous, filled with casual expressions like a rock and a hard place (p. 1), You did not cross Laura if knew what was good for you (p. 1), and Men being men, marriage being marriage, and Catholic doctrine being what it was, before she knew it Laura was pregnant (p. 2). While Paquin does not hold back her interpretations of the events in Johana's life, she also provides strong supporting evidence for them. Paquin explains the book's origins in her preface. Research for the book was begun by Louise Spizizen (1928-2010), who in 1993 had put forth the disputed theory that Johana Harris was co-composer of some of Roy Harris's works. When she was unable to continue her research due to personal problems, Spizizen turned over her mate - rials, including the personal papers of Johana and Roy Harris, to Paquin. While Paquin does address the question of musical authorship (see especially pp. xi, xii, 34, and 58), her primary goal in the book is to answer a broader question: Why would Johana Harris, a musical prodigy of welldocumented genius, who had been the youngest student ever admitted to the Juilliard Graduate School of Music, who had been offered solo concert careers by management firms in this country and in Europe, who regularly received ovations when she performed, choose to marry Roy Harris and subordinate her own career in favor of advancing his? (p. xii) The theme of subordination is woven through this meticulous portrayal of Johana as both a woman and artist. While Johana's musical talent is made clear, the book is also quite intimate, filled with personal details including those surrounding her two abortions and miscarriage, and the role of mental and physical illnesses on various events. Paquin's narrative is storylike as she shows the interplay between Johana's relationships, music making, and academic life. Her relationships with several men are analyzed, with much attention given to that with her first husband, composer Roy Harris. Roy is not presented in attractive light. Paquin's description of Roy as an undependable, emotionally abusive, volatile man (p. xii) is reinforced throughout the book. Johana Harris's second husband, composer Jake Heggie, contributes a forward to the book and also addresses Johana's influence on Roy Harris (pp. viii-ix). Paquin draws upon papers and letters; newspaper reviews and articles; interviews recorded by Spizizen of Johana's colleagues, students, relatives, and friends; and fresh interviews of her own. She also draws upon the literature concerning Roy Harris, particularly Dan Stehman's Roy Harris: A Bio-Bibliography (New York: Green - wood Press, 1991). Included are twentythree photos in black and white of Johana and others. Notes are provided for each of the book's twelve chapters. A minor complaint is that the book is difficult to navigate as no index is provided, and each of the chapter titles consists of no more than a date range. In chapter 1, December 1913 to May 1932, Beula/Johana's background and childhood in Canada, her musical development, and her move to New York at the age of twelve are thoroughly portrayed, along with her training at Juilliard and in Berlin, her teaching position of secondary piano at Juilliard, and her tremendous early successes as a performer, concertizing in the United States and in Canada. Chapter 2, June 1932 to October 1936, includes Beula's fiance David Dawson, the beginning of her long-term romantic relationship with Halfden Gregersen, Roy Harris's background, and her marriage to Roy Harris as his fourth wife. …