annsepstein@att.net

What I’m Reading: Lizzie by Dawn Ius

My Amazon and Goodreads review of Lizzie (Rating 5): From Mild Anxiety to Full Blown Fugue State – In her modern day re-imagining of the story of Lizzie Borden, Dawn Ius brings a figure of childhood rhyme and folk song to life. Lizzie immerses readers in the psyche of a talented but stifled young woman, whose abusive family and conservative community hold her back. We share Lizzie’s urge toward freedom, wincing at her pain and soaring during her rare moments of joy. Building to the climax, Ius takes Lizzie from mild anxiety to a full blown fugue state. Readers will be tempted to wield a culinary knife, if not a hatchet, by the book’s end.

Learn History Through Fiction: Royal Treatment at Marshall Field & Company

Marshall Field & Company, a Chicago landmark, was built 1891-1892. Its signature feature was the Tiffany glass dome. Customers received the royal treatment. Goods were stored behind mahogany counters; models circulated wearing the latest women’s fashions. There was a reading and writing room with popular magazines and tables with pens and free stationary. Read more Chicago history in Tazia and Gemma (see NOVELS).

Most Sincerely Dead

Jerry Maren, the last surviving Munchkin in the 1939 movie The Wizard of Oz, died this week. Read the fictional biography of his fellow Munchkin, Meinhardt Raabe, who played the Coroner. Meinhardt wants the respect given normal people, yet his disability makes him mistrust even those who can see past it. My novel A Brain. A Heart. The Nerve. (Alternative Book Press) comes out in August. Pre-order the electronic book now https://amzn.to/2LqpAu7. Print pre-orders will be available in July. Read more about Jerry Maren and see a picture of him, Meinhardt Raabe, and two other Munchkins after they received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2007 at https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/06/arts/jerry-maren-dead-wizard-of-oz-munchkin.html. See NOVELS to learn more about A Brain. A Heart. The Nerve.

Learn History Through Fiction: The Tragedy of the 1911 Triangle Waist Company Fire

The 1911 Triangle Waist Company fire killed 146 people, 129 women and 17 men, primarily Jewish and Italian immigrants who spoke little English. Ranging in age from 14-43, most were only 16-23. They died of fire or smoke inhalation, 20 fell 100 feet to their death when a fire escape collapsed, others plunged down an empty elevator shaft after the car’s last descent, and 62, facing their inevitable end, jumped from the 8th, 9th, or 10th floor where the factory was located. Read about one survivor in Tazia and Gemma (see NOVELS).

Enthusiastic TAZIA AND GEMMA Book Launch and Reading

I’m delighted to report the enthusiastic Tazia and Gemma book launch & reading, Q & A, and signing event on June 3 at Bookbound Bookstore, 1729 Plymouth Road, Ann Arbor. I read narrative passages from the first Tazia section and my daughter Rebecca joined me to read the mother-daughter interview from the first Gemma section. Thanks to Bookbound owners Megan and Peter, and to all who attended the Tazia and Gemma event. I urge Ann Arbor residents and visitors to check out this friendly independent bookstore with a large selection of children’s books and wide-ranging adult literature. For a complete list of my publication events see NEWS; to read more about my books see NOVELS.

Learn History Through Fiction: Italian-Americans 100 Years Ago

From 1900 to WWI, 4 million Italians, most from southern rural areas, emigrated to America to escape poverty and sickness (pellagra, cholera). The Commissariat of Emigration, created in 1901, helped them at the point of embarkation and after they arrived, including dealing with U.S. labor laws that discriminated against alien workers. Immigrants sent money home, accounting for as much as 5% of Italy’s economy. Read more about Italian-Americans in Tazia and Gemma (see NOVELS).

What I’m Reading: The Taste of Cigarettes by Jon Vreeland

My Amazon and Goodreads review of The Taste of Cigarettes: A Memoir of a Heroin Addict (Rating 5): Soars with Poetry, Sears With Pain – Jon Vreeland’s memoir, The Taste of Cigarettes, is a detailed and vivid description of a junkie’s nightmare existence. Just when readers think his body can’t take more abuse, we descend into yet another graphic tale of life off the rails and in the gutter. Such is the nature of addiction and Vreeland renders the endless search for the next fix in language that soars with poetry and sears with pain. Only the haunting anguish of permanent separation from his young daughters finally pushes him across the line from overdose to recovery, from obsession to redemption. Vreeland has written a hell of a book that ends on a rushing updraft of hope.

Learn History Through Fiction: San Diego’s Awesome Pacific Fleet

At the 1935-36 California-Pacific International Exposition in San Diego, 7.2 million visitors were awed by the Pacific Fleet at the U.S. Naval Base and a new assembly plant, Convair, which built Navy flying boats. Read more San Diego and Navy history in Tazia and Gemma (see NOVELS), which officially launches tomorrow (05/29/18).

TAZIA AND GEMMA Book Launch and Reading

The Tazia and Gemma book launch & reading is at Bookbound Bookstore on Sunday, June 3, at 2 PM, 1729 Plymouth Road, Ann Arbor. See the Facebook event page https://www.facebook.com/events/813290068858590/. Learn more about the book at http://www.vineleavespress.com/tazia-and-gemma-by-ann-s-epstein.html and see the trailer on Youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lijLhwR2Yb0. Hope to see you on June 3! For a complete list of my publication events see NEWS; to read more about my books see NOVELS.

Learn History Through Fiction: Spirit of St. Louis Built in San Diego

The Spirit of St. Louis, the custom M-1 monoplane that Charles Lindbergh flew on his 1927 cross-Atlantic solo flight, was built in San Diego, California by Ryan Airlines. On May 10, Lindbergh flew 4 hours overnight from Rockwell Field on North Island in San Diego to Lambert Field, St. Louis, Missouri. His historic flight from New York to Paris happened May 20-21. Discover more San Diego history in Tazia and Gemma (see NOVELS).