Ann S. Epstein writes novels, short stories, memoir, essays, and poems. Please use the links or site menu to go to the HOME PAGE; learn about her NOVELS, SHORT STORIES, MEMOIR, ESSAYS, and POEMS; find interesting facts in BEHIND THE STORY; read REFLECTIONS on writing; check NEWS for updates on publications and related events; see REVIEWS; learn about her END-OF-LIFE DOULA credentials and services; and CONTACT US to send webmail.
New York City has always had a greater percentage of immigrants as part of its total population than the U.S. as a whole. Right before World War I, over 40% of its population was immigrants. After restrictions were passed in the 1920s, immigrants as a percentage of the city’s population dropped to 18% by 1970, before bouncing back up to 36% in 2000. Read more about NYC’s immigrant population one hundred years ago in Tazia and Gemma (see NOVELS).
One of four pairs of ruby slippers worn by Judy Garland in the 1939 Hollywood classic The Wizard of Oz, and stolen in 2005 from a museum in her home town of Grand Rapids, Minnesota, has been found. The FBI, which conducted the undercover operation, is still searching for those responsible. Read more about The Wizard of Oz and Judy Garland in A Brain. A Heart. The Nerve. (see NOVELS).
The Mafia, a.k.a. the Mob, established a stronghold in Las Vegas during Nevada’s anti-gaming legislation (1911-1931) and national Prohibition (1920-1933). Both thrived in underground casinos and speakeasies. Read more about how the Mafia first infiltrated Las Vegas 100 years ago in Tazia and Gemma (see NOVELS).
I’m delighted to announce that I now have a literary agent to represent my work. Her name is Sarah Yake, with Frances Collins Literary Agency. She’ll begin with my novel The Great Stork Derby, and keep my short story collection Between the Wars in her back pocket. The agency is well established (founded 1948 as Marie Rodell-Frances Collin Literary Agency); it represents the estates of Rachel Carson & John A. Williams, among others. Most important, Sarah seems like a great match for me. If you’re curious, you can read more about the agency and Sarah at:
https://www.publishersmarketplace.com/members/slyyake/
http://www.manuscriptwishlist.com/mswl-post/sarah-yake/
In honor of Labor Day: Unsanitary Chicago meat-packing conditions documented in Upton Sinclair’s 1906 novel The Jungle included mixing rat droppings, dead rodents, and sawdust into sausages; adding red dye to spoiled meat to make it look fresh. There were even reports of workers falling into rendering tanks, being ground together with animal parts, and sold as lard. Read more Chicago and labor history in Tazia and Gemma (see NOVELS).
Kansas has more members of the Pentecostal religion, an evangelical faith, than any other Midwestern state. Charles Parham, the religion’s founder, moved from Iowa to Topeka in 1899 at the age of 26. His arrival caused an uproar in Catholic and mainline Protestant churches, which objected to the gospel of “good news,” the belief that through the resurrection of Jesus Christ sins can be forgiven and people reconciled with God. Thus a fundamental Pentecostal requirement is that one be born again. Read about religious tension in America’s heartland 100 years ago in Tazia and Gemma (see NOVELS).
On May 28, 1935, the California-Pacific International Exposition opened in San Diego’s Balboa Park. The Palisades buildings were erected in a record few months, including a complete remodeling of the House of Hospitality. Discover more San Diego history in Tazia and Gemma (see NOVELS).
At the 1910 Chicago Electrical Show, the hot new gadget was a “time-a-phone” which allowed a person to tell time in the dark by the number of chimes for the hour, gongs for the quarter-hour, and a high pitched bell for minutes. Read more Chicago history in Tazia and Gemma (see NOVELS).
Southern European immigrants, including Italians, were not welcomed in the United States. On December 18, 1880, a New York Times editorial titled “Undesirable Emigrants” railed against the arrival of “promiscuous, filthy, wretched, lazy, criminal dregs [from] the meanest sections of Italy.” Read more about Italian-Americans in Tazia and Gemma (see NOVELS).
My Amazon and Goodreads review of White Houses (Rating 5): A Smooth Puree of Fact and Fiction. Fact #1 is that Eleanor Roosevelt is the famous person, dead or alive, with whom I most want to have dinner. (Although if she were setting the menu, I would follow the advice given to visitors when she was First Lady and eat beforehand.) Fact #2 is that Amy Bloom has concocted a gourmet meal in White Houses, a smooth purée blending truth and imagination that is both tender and raw, and intriguing and intrigue-filled. Eleanor’s portrayal matches the idealized figure of my dream dinner companion. The humanitarian champion comes across as authentic, compassionate, wise, and a lot looser than her elegant posture suggests. But Lorena Hickok is the star of the book. The talented journalist and First Lady’s purported lover is sharp-tongued, self-aware, and devoted, a scrappy woman who knows what it means to scrape bottom. As a writer of historical fiction myself, I urge readers on social media to “learn history through fiction.” I am also delighted if, when I finish creating a manuscript, I have forgotten what is and is not true. As a reader of White Houses, I can attest that Amy Bloom accomplishes both in this fine book.
