[1] Her father was Evan Ivie (d. 2020), a computer scientist who worked for thirteen years at Bell Labs and being involved in developing Unix programming language.

She received a full scholarship to attend Princeton University and in 1995 earned a PhD in Germanic Languages and Literatures.

She wrote about her experience with high-functioning autism in Sunstone magazine, where she noted that participation in the LDS Church helped her to make social connections that she otherwise would not have pursued.

She described how her lack of "normal facial expressions" leads other church members to underestimate the depth of her feelings, especially depression.

[6] In 2007 Harrison's The Princess and the Hound was a finalist for the Association for Mormon Letters (AML) Young Adult Literature award.

The A Linda Wallheim Mystery series is about a Mormon bishop's wife who uncovers terrible truths within her community.

[12] Janet Maslin of The New York Times said the novel was "apt to offend most Mormon men" and praised the way Harrison helped readers contemplate the "question of how dangerous fire-breathing extremists really are".