 A graduate of Cornell University, Modell travelled extensively in her younger years, living in Germany from the late 1920s until 1933, after which she returned to the United States.After marriage to Dr. Walter Modell (New York heart specialist, lecturer, teacher, writer) and motherhood (she had one son, John Modell), she began to write and publish short stories, many appearing in "The New Yorker".Films were made of "The Nanny" (1965) starring Bette Davis, and "Bunny Lake Is Missing" (1965) starring Carol Lynley and Laurence Olivier.