I Never Promised You a Rose Garden Trivia

Joanne Greenberg knows what she's talking about when it comes to mental illness. She was diagnosed with schizophrenia in 1948 and was committed to a mental hospital in Maryland. Modern doctors have looked at Greenberg's history and the novel and have figured out that Greenberg (and Deborah) was probably depressed and delusional but not truly schizophrenic. (Source)

So, I Never Promised You a Rose Garden is now regarded as controversial because the heroine recovers. Talk about irony. The book was also controversial in its own time. It didn't do well in bookstores right away, because people feared young women reading the book might act crazy in an effort to appear more creative and artistic. Apparently, that was kind of a popular idea at the time. (Source and Source)

The novel was made into a movie that won some awards, but some top talent of the day turned down the opportunity to play the lead role. Actresses who turned down part of Deborah Blau in the film version include Patty Duke and Natalie Wood. The actress who ultimately played Deborah was Kathleen Quinlan, who went on to star in many movies including The Doors, Event Horizon, and Apollo 13. (Source and Source)

Joanne Greenberg talks openly about her fight with mental illness nowadays. But she didn't always feel that way. She initially published I Never Promised You a Rose Garden under the name Hannah Green because the novel is so much like her real life that she wanted to protect the privacy of her family. Can you blame her? (Source)

Dr. Fried was based on Greenberg's real-life psychotherapist Frieda Fromm-Reichmann. Reichmann was famous for believing that psychotherapy can reach even the most disturbed patients. (Source)

Good books don't always have the good luck to be made into good movies. Fortunately, I Never Promised You A Rose Garden did get lucky. The film adaptation of the book was nominated for an Academy Award and two Golden Globes—though Greenberg herself didn't care for it. (Source)