Her family fled to Casablanca during the Nazi occupation and returned to their homeland after the war. After studying French literature, she began medical studies, but was unable to complete them due to tuberculosis. She turned to writing in 1954, and her first published work appeared in 1958.

In 1980, she qualified as a psychoanalyst. Harpman wrote more than 15 novels and received major literary awards, including the Prix Médicis for Orlanda. She died in 2012.