Summary

In Chapter 1, “Early Years, 1907-1929,” Penrose describes Lee Miller and the various vocations she had throughout her life. He attributes her many interests to her upbringing. She was born Elizabeth Miller in Poughkeepsie, New York to Theodore and Florence Miller. Theodore also had an array of hobbies. Lee had two brothers, John and Erik, and they grew up on a farm called Kingwood Park. They engaged in many “dangerous, thrilling” games throughout their childhoods, and Theodore cultivated Lee’s early interest in photography (10).

When Lee was 11, her parents sent her to a family friend in Brooklyn when Florence fell ill. While there, the friend’s son raped Lee and Florence had to nurse her when she returned home. Shortly thereafter, she fell in love with a local boy who drowned while the lovers were “out on a lake in a rowing boat” (12). In...