Lucy Grealy, the author of Autobiography of a Face, has died:

Lucy Grealy, the poet and essayist who wrote a noted 1994 memoir, "Autobiography of a Face," about her experience growing up with extreme facial disfigurement and repeated surgery to repair it, died at a friend's house in Manhattan on Wednesday night. She was 39.

No cause of death was announced. Friends said she had been despondent over operations she underwent two years ago.

NPR played a segment of an interview with her when her book was at the height of its popularity. She sounded so...accepting of her condition. But I suppose one would on national radio, at the height of one's success. Ms. Grealy had a malignant tumor successfully removed from her jaw in early childhood. Unfortunately, the successful removal required the simultaneous removal of most of her jaw. Her memoir was a compelling and unflinching tale of growing up looking decidedly different, and of her attempts to correct that difference, not withstanding her remarks on NPR. She told the interviewer that writing the book gave her the confidence to walk into a room with "fluency," and made her finally feel accepted. But fame is fleeting, and she never really gave up on trying to change her appearance - to grasp that elusive beauty that would give her the life she craved. At the end of her book, she was still looking toward the next operation, hoping that it would be more successful than the last. Sadly, she never got that satisfaction.