[4][5] He married twice; first to Pauline Leader, a poet noted for her memoir about growing up deaf, And No Birds Sing,[6] and then to Helen Mendelssohn (both marriages ended in divorce).

[8] In 1935, Brand joined the League of American Writers (1935-1943), whose members included Alexander Trachtenberg, Frank Folsom, Louis Untermeyer, I.F.

[10] In New York City, Brand and Pauline Leader lived in a milieu of artists, writers, and political activists.

[14] Unable to find a job, she was rescued by a young machinist and union activist named John, with whom she moved in, fell in love, and then married.

True to Brand’s Marxist viewpoint, Harriet was cured of her illness through her relationship with John, her immersion in working class life, and her contact with the simple but honest people of the Lower East Side.

Although Harriet’s illness was caused by childhood trauma and an Electra complex––resolved on the final page of the book––this Freudian subplot was accepted by readers and critics without comment.

[15] Critics praised the beauty of the book's writing, regarding a man and woman sheltering each other and trying to connect in the midst of the Depression.

While the medical authorities have insights into sanity and insanity, they cannot reach fearful patients and supply the necessary healing relationship.

[15] In 1948, director Edward Dmytryk and writer-producer Adrian Scott formed a corporation to turn Brand’s novel Albert Spears into a motion picture (it dealt with an African American family moving into a white, New Jersey neighborhood).

Those plans fell through because of the Hollywood Black List and both Scott and Dmytryk were imprisoned for their refusal to cooperate with the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) .