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Rescued from a Dumpster on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, a discarded diary brings to life the glamorous, forgotten world of an extraordinary young woman . . .
Opening the tarnished brass lock of a red leather diary found in the basement of a New York City apartment building, New York Times writer Lily Koppel embarked on a journey into the past. Compelled by the hopes and heartaches captured in the pages, Koppel set out to find the diary's owner, a 90-year old woman named Florence. Eventually reunited with her diary, Florence ventured back to the girl she once was, rediscovering a lost self that burned with artistic fervor.
Joining intimate interviews with original diary entries, The Red Leather Diary is an evocative and entrancing work that recreates the romance and glitter, sophistication and promise, of 1930s New York, bringing to life the true story of a precocious young woman who dared to follow her dreams.
"Melds three life-affirming subjects—Florence Wolfson's journal of life in 1930s Manhattan, Koppel's discovery of it in a Dumpster decades later, and the meeting of the two women—into one enchanting memoir." —Elle
"[An] amazing story . . . A highbrow fairy tale . . . Much of the book's emotional power derives from the drama of an old woman reclaiming a past that was almost lost to her . . . Koppel writes with flair." —Chicago Tribune
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Creators
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Publisher
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Release date
November 21, 2023 -
Formats
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Kindle Book
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OverDrive Read
- ISBN: 9780061827495
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EPUB ebook
- ISBN: 9780061827495
- File size: 4024 KB
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Languages
- English
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Reviews
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March 31, 2008
Journalist Koppel found the inspiration for this book, based on her 2006 New York Times article, after discovering Florence Wolfsons diary in a Manhattan dumpster. Koppel eventually locates Florence in Florida and surprises the 90-year-old with this artifact from her past, which reveals her views on growing up as an intelligent, ambitious and creative teenager on the Upper West Side of Manhattan in the 1930s. Florence received the diary as a present on her 14th birthday. She recorded everything from her first kiss (with a boy) to her crush on actress Eva Le Galliene (which led her to question her sexuality) to her passion for writing and art. The diary acts as a window into a fascinating and privileged world, one that Koppel tries to recreate by writing in a novelistic way, using no more than snippets of text from Florences diary and, we can presume, multiple interviews as support. The result, which some readers may find frustrating and others rewarding, is that the original inspiration the diary itselfbecomes no more than a starting point for a much larger story: that of Florences life.
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