Eighty-five-year-old Addie tells the story of her life to her twenty-two-year-old granddaughter, who has asked her “How did you get to be the woman you are today.” She begins in 1915, the year she found her voice and made friends who would help shape the course of her life. From the one-room tenement apartment she shared with her parents and two sisters, to the library group for girls she joins at a neighborhood settlement house, to her first, disastrous love affair, Addie recalls her adventures with compassion for the naïve girl she was and a wicked sense of humor.
Kindle Edition, 256 pages
Expected publication:
December 9th 2014
by Scribner
Genre: Historical Fiction
Kristine's Thoughts:
I received an ARC from the publisher via Edelweiss in exchange for an honest review. Thank you!
This book gave me the warm and cozies and left a smile on my face. It's not that the entire story was happy, because it wasn't, but Addie was such an enjoyable character to get to know and it was beautifully written.
The book is told in the first person as Addie tells her life story to her granddaughter. It doesn't chronicle every last detail but highlights the significant events that impacted her life. I had a hard time putting it down and was able to finish it very quickly. Addie's story drew me in immediately and I adored her as if it were my own Grandmother telling me her story.
Historical fiction is one of my favourite genres because I love to read about times that were very different from what I know and this book does not disappoint in that regard. The time frame spans over many significant and important events in history as Addie's story unfolds.
I am not going to re-tell the story but I will say that Addie is one of the most likeable characters I have read in a long time. From struggling with her home life, making an incredible group of life long friends to figuring out what she wanted to do with her life, there were many question marks about her future. I was right there with her and thoroughly enjoyed each and every bend in the road.
The writing style is very simple but effective. It is not over written leaving the beauty to come from the story itself. I appreciated that with this book. Each chapter is short and if you are the "just one more chapter" kind of person like me, plan to ignore your reality for a while.
This was the first book by Diamant for me and I feel like I've been missing out. I will be checking out the rest of her work because if this book is any indication, I will have a new author to add to my favourites.
About the Author
Anita
Diamant is the author of eleven books and one on the way. She is
best-known for her first novel, The Red Tent, which was published in
1997 and won the 2001 Booksense Book of the Year Award. Based on the
biblical story of Dinah, The Red Tent became a word-of-mouth bestseller
in the US and overseas, where it has been published in more than 25
countries. Three other novels followed: Good Harbor, The Last Days of
Dogtown and, Day after Night, which is set in 1945 Palestine and tells
the story of four young Jewish survivors of the Holocaust who make their
way to the land of Israel.
Her fifth novel, The Boston Girl, will be published in December 2014. Addie Baum is The Boston Girl, born in 1900 to immigrant parents who were unprepared for America and its effect on their three daughters. Growing up in the North End, then a teeming multicultural neighborhood, Addie’s intelligence and curiosity take her to the wider world of the 1910s and ‘20s: short skirts, celebrity culture, and new opportunities for women.
Anita has also written six non-fiction guides to contemporary Jewish life, which have become classic reference books: The New Jewish Wedding, The Jewish Baby Book, Living a Jewish Life, Choosing a Jewish Life, How to Raise a Jewish Child and Saying Kaddish.
Pitching My Tent, a collection personal essays, is drawn from twenty years worth of newspaper and magazine columns.
An award-winning journalist, Diamant's articles have appeared in the Boston Globe Magazine, Real Simple, Parenting Magazine, Hadassah, Reform Judaism, Boston Magazine and Yankee Magazine.
Her fifth novel, The Boston Girl, will be published in December 2014. Addie Baum is The Boston Girl, born in 1900 to immigrant parents who were unprepared for America and its effect on their three daughters. Growing up in the North End, then a teeming multicultural neighborhood, Addie’s intelligence and curiosity take her to the wider world of the 1910s and ‘20s: short skirts, celebrity culture, and new opportunities for women.
Anita has also written six non-fiction guides to contemporary Jewish life, which have become classic reference books: The New Jewish Wedding, The Jewish Baby Book, Living a Jewish Life, Choosing a Jewish Life, How to Raise a Jewish Child and Saying Kaddish.
Pitching My Tent, a collection personal essays, is drawn from twenty years worth of newspaper and magazine columns.
An award-winning journalist, Diamant's articles have appeared in the Boston Globe Magazine, Real Simple, Parenting Magazine, Hadassah, Reform Judaism, Boston Magazine and Yankee Magazine.
Connect with Anita
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