Her parents were bookish and fond of music and Paretsky describes her mother as 'a phenomenal storyteller, much more inventive than I am,' which might have seemed an ideal environment to encourage an intelligent young woman. They had four boys to educate and they didn't think it was really worth educating girls, because they just get married and their education goes to waste. A summer of community service work in Chicago with deprived children ignited her obssession with the city that forms the backdrop to the Warshawski novels, and where Paretsky still lives with her husband. It was the fall of '78, and I was in a meeting with this guy who was really lethal and undermining all his subordinates - not just the women, he was evil to everyone who worked for him. Paretsky is a woman with political ideals and a strong social conscience, unafraid to get her hands dirty with projects such as mentoring girls in inner-city schools or working with refugees.
Political fiction tends to be pretty dreary when it's trying to make a point.
I think because it's always been such a struggle for me to find a voice and get people to listen to me, I am more focused on people who are voiceless. It really concerns me the way government is for sale these days, and the massive amounts of money companies can spend to buy the legislation they want. Hard Time had me sitting up most of the night until I finished it. But it is a harrowing read in places, particularly in her exposure of the way women prisoners are treated. There's a tremendous amount of sexual assault and violence, and if the women complain they get put in solitary.