What I’m Reading: You Don’t Have to Say You Love Me: A Memoir by Sherman Alexie

My Amazon review of You Don’t Have to Say You Love Me: A Memoir (Rating 4): An Uneasy Relationship Confronted by an Uneasy Author – I was halfway through Alexie’s memoir when I heard the NPR report about his repeated sexual aggression. It was several days before I could go back to reading the book, incorporating that knowledge. I already knew of Alexie’s anger at the mistreatment of Indians. In his memoir, I learned about his being personally abused too. Neither justifies his abuse toward women. However, I bought and read the book for his insights into his troubled relationship with his mother. My late mother was also a difficult person, so this was an area where I found it easier to empathize with him. Alexie speaks eloquently of his ambivalence toward her, feelings that will never be resolved. However, honest memoirs like his can help fellow travelers on an endless journey toward greater understanding, levels of forgiveness, and letting go while still holding on.

Learn History Through Fiction: World War I and Women’s Suffrage

In honor of Women’s History Month (March) – World War One boosted the cause of women’s suffrage when they were employed to replace the men fighting overseas. Women worked in the “land army” (farming), munitions factories, public transport, local law enforcement, and the postal service. By war’s end, women were also recruited into the armed forces as cooks, clerks, telephone operators, electricians, and code experts. These vital roles increased their economic, social, and political power. Parades and rallies enhanced their visibility. Using the rhetoric of the progressive era to demand the right of self-government, the suffrage movement pressured a reluctant President Woodrow Wilson in 1918 to approve a constitutional change and in 1920 the 19th amendment nationalized women’s right to vote. Read more about women’s involvement in the suffrage and labor movements during this era in On the Shore (see NOVELS).

Learn History Through Fiction: WWII U.N. Orphan Camp Near Nazi Dachau Death Camp

In April 1945, the United National Relief and Rehabilitation administration (UNRRA) entered the American zone of Germany and registered between 6,000 and 7,000 displaced children. Both Jews and non-Jews, they included survivors of concentration camps, forced child laborers, and children whose parents were sent to forced labor camps. In July, not far from the Dachau death camp, UNRRA created an international pilot program in Kloster Indersdorf, a former monastery closed by the Nazis. Between 1945 and 1948, it became home to more than 1,000 refugee youth. Led by a disciple of Anna Freud, the institute served as a model for five other centers in Europe. Groups of 12-15 orphans were organized into surrogate families led by an adult parent figure. Said one staff member, “The first thing was to give them plenty of food, clothing, and listen to their stories, days and nights. It had to come out. Sometimes it took hours. You could not interrupt.” Photos of the children were posted in hopes that relatives, if alive, would recognize and claim them. In a few cases this happened, but for most of the Jewish children, “their dark suspicion grew gradually into the horrible certainty, that from now on each was all alone in the world.” Read more in BEHIND THE STORY.

 

Learn History Through Fiction: Suffragettes and Prohibitionists

In honor of International Women’s Day (March 8) – Many suffragettes were also prohibitionists, defending women against drunken husbands who abused them and protecting children from fathers who spent food and rent money on alcohol. Men were opposed to both movements and the liquor industry was a powerful anti-women’s rights force. Temperance proponents like Susan B. Anthony and Frances Willard took up the cause of women’s suffrage to enact laws against alcohol. Read more about early women activists in On the Shore (see NOVELS).

Learn History Through Fiction: Secrets in the Souffle

Researching the Office of Strategic Services (OSS) during World War II for my novel-in-progress, One Person’s Loss, I discovered that many famous people worked as agents — that is, spies — for the forerunner of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). Among them was chef Julia (McWilliams) Child; supreme court justice Arthur Goldberg, film director John Ford, Hollywood actors Sterling Hayden and Marlene Dietrich, anthropologist Margaret Mead, and Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Ralph Bunche (who was paid $5,600 a year). They were primarily recruited for their “intellectual sweat.” The 35,000 OSS personnel files in the National Archives were not released to the public until August 2008, more than sixty years after the agency ceased wartime operations.

What I’m (Belatedly) Reading: Midnight’s Children by Salman Rushdie

My Amazon review of Midnight’s Children (Rated 3): Jewels Scattered in the Dung Heap – Given that Midnight’s Children (1980) won the “Booker of Bookers,” I should rate Salman Rushdie’s epic story of Indian independence 5 to the 5th stars. Coming to it belatedly, I anticipated both a remedial course in history and a novel of lyrical prose. Alas, I was disappointed on both fronts. Those already familiar with India’s creation may appreciate the inside references, but my enlightenment came from the companion reference books I had to consult, not the text itself. As for the writing, there are jewels, both fantastic and funny, scattered in the dung heap of words, but the reward of finding them was not worth the trek through verbose dreck. I’m glad to have finished this “should read” book, but the experience was more medicinal than magical.

In Need of Comic Relief? A Poli-Sci-Fi Whiff of Skulduggery

If you crave a light and literary escape from today’s divisive political scene, check out “A Poli-Sci-Fi Whiff of Skulduggery,” my review of Joe Ponepinto’s satiric novel Mr. Neutron (7.13 Books, release date March 2018) in the online journal Wilderness House Literary Review https://www.whlreview.com/no-12.4/review/AnnSEpstein.pdf. Ponepinto has a Dickensian deftness for naming characters and an olfactory imagination that will keep you sniffing until the end, which beats sniffling over the state of disunion. Read Mr. Neutron and permit yourself to revel in a guilt-free romp.

A BRAIN. A HEART. THE NERVE. Publication Date: August 14, 2018

The publication date for A Brain. A Heart. The Nerve. (Alternative Book Press) is August 14, 2018. A Brain. A Heart. The Nerve. is a fictional biography of Meinhardt Raabe, a Munchkin in The Wizard of Oz. Meinhardt wants the respect given normal people, yet his disability makes him mistrust even those who see past it. The narrative moves from Nazi Berlin through decades of social change in the U.S. to a return pilgrimage to Germany, where Meinhardt chooses between isolation and opening his heart. The book cries for justice in the face of discrimination. Meinhardt’s journey fortifies readers with the intelligence, love, and courage to follow the yellow brick road to the safe home we all deserve. // For more information about the book, see NOVELS. Pre-orders available May 2018. Check this website and the publisher’s https://alternativebookpress.com/ for updates about the book’s release, print and e-book orders, and related events.

Wilderness House Literary Review to Publish “Space Cat”

Wilderness House Literary Review will publish my flash fiction piece “Space Cat” in its Spring 2018 issue (link to follow when the story goes online). Here’s the log line: “‘Space Cat,’” based on the true but unheralded story of Félicette, the first (and last) cat in space, is a cri de coeur for recognizing the important role of felines, and females, in science.” Please bestow belated honors upon the brave Félicette, 51 years after her sacrifice on behalf of humankind.

 

Tazia and Gemma: Announcing My New Novel

My next novel Tazia and Gemma will be published by Vine Leaves Press on May 29, 2018. I’m delighted to share the cover and book jacket description:

Spanning 1911 to 1961, Tazia and Gemma is told from the perspective of an unwed mother, whose tale moves forward in time, and her daughter, whose search for her father moves backward. Tazia, a pregnant seventeen-year-old Italian immigrant and survivor of the Triangle Waist Company fire, flees New York, leaving her married lover to think she miscarried the baby he urged her to abort. To support herself and her daughter Gemma, Tazia takes low-wage jobs as she migrates westward. Gemma, now fifty, embarks on an eastward journey to find her father, eventually tracing her roots to Italy. In the end, Tazia no longer needs to escape her history while Gemma finds that her identity leads back to her mother. The narrative illuminates the tension between assimilation versus honoring one’s heritage, and confronts the struggle for self respect in the face of discrimination and demeaning work conditions, issues both timely and timeless.

To learn more about the book, see NOVELS and REVIEWS. Here is the link to the publisher’s webpage: http://www.vineleavespress.com/tazia-and-gemma-by-ann-s-epstein.html. Please check back to find out when print and e-book versions will be available for preorder.