Nadine Feldman, Author

celebrating strong female characters and whatever else strikes my fancy

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Always a Book

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Hello, friends! Thanks for hanging in there with me as I come back from a long absence. I’ll try to be more consistent this time.

What brought me back? A lovely, haunting, heart-breaking book. Yes, it’s always a book. Throughout the past few years, books have been the treasures that keep me hopeful in uncertain times.

The World That We Knew by Alice Hoffman is a stunner, and I’m happy to report, one of many wonderful books I’ve run across recently.

Lea Kohn is a young Jewish girl in Berlin during the Nazi regime. Her mother, Hanni, recognizes the danger they are in but is unable to leave because of her elderly, ill mother.

To save her daughter, Hanni tracks down a Rabbi’s daughter, Ettie, who agrees to create a golem, a being known to Jewish folklore. Ettie isn’t supposed to know how to do this, what with being a girl and all, but she’s managed to keep an eye on her father and his students long enough to pick up all she needs to know. Because there are women involved, this golem, who they name Ava, is uniquely feminine.

Lea and Ava make their way to France while Ettie plots her own escape. Ava, whose life was meant to be temporary, finds that the longer her mission of keeping Lea safe, the more she clings to life, with the potential to act in her own interest rather than Lea’s, creating additional complications. Throughout, Hoffman slowly doles out the atrocities of the Holocaust as it spreads into France. The result is a story that is rich but devastating.

Hoffman brings her signature magic realism to the story and uses it to perfection. There are no ghosts in the machine to save the day, but the magical elements add a breathtaking poignancy.

In our current political climate, some of us are accused at times of being alarmists. Hoffman reminds us that the Holocaust was not a single event, but rather a gradual ending of societal norms. But this is not a political book; rather, it is a story of love, of a mother’s sacrifice, and the extraordinary will to survive.

Jane, The Factory Girl (yes, I keep changing the title–I think this one is going to stick) is coming along nicely. I hope to send it to the editor for a second round by early February. Stay tuned for future announcements of release dates.

Writing Women Back Into History

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I would not leave thee, dear beloved place,

A crown, a sceptre, or a throne to grace;

To be a queen—the Nation’s flag unfurl—

A thousand times I’d be a Factory Girl!

An Address to Napiers Dockyard

Ellen Johnston

Years ago while working on a project for college, I ran across a book where astrophysicists debated the existence of God (don’t worry, I’m not going to write about that). I happened to notice they were all male. Are there female astrophysicists? Of course there are, and here’s a list. For whatever reason, though, not a single woman was represented in that book.

This was my first realization of how women are written out of history, even with significant achievements. I thought of this again when I saw the movie Hidden Figures. Would my life have been different, I wondered, if I saw the success and achievements of women at an early age? When I was growing up, I had no idea women, let alone women of color, used mathematical expertise to launch rockets.

So when I discovered my great-great grandmother had been removed from the family history, I wasn’t surprised. Jane the Factory Girl, which I am getting closer to completion, is a fictionalized attempt to bring her back into the family…and to also pay tribute to the women who worked in the mills and factories, whose stories have also been erased.

While doing research for the novel I fell in love with the poetry of Ellen Johnston…and along the way gained exposure to a wealth of Scottish poetry written by women. Never heard of her? Of course not. And yet, in her lifetime, she was well known and popular as a poet.

Ellen began working in factories at either age 11 or 13, not uncommon at the time. She had little schooling, enough to read and write. She later gave birth to an illegitimate daughter, and put the child in her mother’s care because she had to keep working.

After being fired from a mill, Johnston successfully sued for severance. However, this action caused her to be blackballed.

As a poet, Johnston published a number of poems in newspapers under the name Factory Girl. In 1867 she published a collection called Autobiographies, Poems, Songs, and The Factory Girl. A second edition (that deleted references to her daughter) was published in 1869.

Ellen’s fate is unknown. A woman named Helen Johnston died in a poorhouse in 1874, but this may or may not be her. Rumors suggested she married or moved and changed her name. She was known to be in ill health, however, from her years in the mills, so the latter theory is not likely. It’s more, perhaps, what we wish were true. Instead, like too many women, Ellen Johnston just disappeared.

It is a tribute to Johnston that each chapter of Jane the Factory Girl begins with a poem. Where possible, I use Johnston’s lines. Where not, most of the poetry is written by women (I threw in Stevenson and Burns, so men aren’t entirely ignored).

Here again, though, the only female poet I had heard of before working on this novel was Elizabeth Barrett Browning, whose stunning poem The Cry of the Children still haunts me. Others include Elizabeth Melville, Mrs. G. G. Richardson, Elizabeth Hamilton, and more (lots of Elizabeths here, I just noticed).

Hopefully Jane the Factory Girl will not only restore Jane’s standing in the family history, but will also bring other women to life whose work and achievements had previously disappeared.

The Dutchess is Keeping Me Sane (Sort of)

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I’ve made it no secret that I’m not fond of social media. I have stopped and started Twitter accounts so often it’s impossible for anyone to find me. Too often I find myself getting into arguments with strangers (who may not even be real people). I’m trying again, this time hoping to avoid that fate by limiting who I follow, especially in the political realm.

Upon my return to Twitter, my stepdaughter Sarah told me about one Duchess Goldblatt and sent me a link to a New York Times article about this mysterious, sage, and very anonymous persona that has hooked thousands of followers.

The Duchess, for the ten people who don’t know who she is (I am late to the party) is a fictional 80-year-old author who lives in the equally fictional Crooked Path, New York. She dispenses cleverness and wisdom in every post. She is a major fangirl of Lyle Lovett, and over time the feeling has grown mutual.

Duchess Goldblatt recently came out with a memoir, Becoming Duchess Goldblatt. She has written the book as the person behind her creation. In stories both funny and sad she tells of a life that had fallen apart: losses of job, marriage, and friends in a short period of time. The Duchess started as a way to help her cope, and ended up helping her heal.

Though I knew little about the Duchess before buying the book, I was enthralled with the writing. It’s an easy read, but I still found myself putting it down from time to time to absorb her words. It’s likely I’ll browse back through it another time or two. Despite hiding behind a fictional character, the author behind the Duchess is an incredibly authentic human being.

The Duchess says her Twitter feed is a refuge for the broken-hearted. For me, her feed and her book have provided a bit of light in these dark times. As we continue to tend to ourselves and each other, we need to find that light wherever we can.

How Are You? Life in the Age of Coronavirus

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In the middle of March we fled New York City, where we’d spent the winter while the kitchen in our Hudson Valley house was being remodeled. I figured we’d be away for a few weeks until the hubbub died down. It’s mid-July and we haven’t yet returned.

Here in the rural Hudson Valley, we have zero active cases of Coronavirus, but we have not forgotten the horrors of springtime here. I still haven’t gotten a haircut, even though I can (the husband is getting one on Friday, so we’re getting there). When I’m out on my walks, locals have no problem wearing masks or keeping their distance.

Our lives have changed far less than many of our our loved ones. We both worked at home and are fairly introverted. My husband still has his job. And yet, we are anxious, as most are. We worry about friends and family in Texas and Florida, where cases are spiking. We worry about those who are hungry or fear being so.

Anyway, I wanted to say hello to any of you who happen to read this blog. I am thinking of you and hoping you are all well and safe. I have other posts to make for the future about Jane, the Factory Girl, but it seemed most important to me, as I return to the blog and other social media, to just tell you I care. We will get through this somehow, but it’s easier when we get through this together.

Sending hugs to all.

A Truly “Delicious!” Book

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The reading gods are continuing to smile upon me as I work through a trove of novels that are absolutely wonderful! I don’t often get a streak like this, and many times so-called must reads don’t flip my button at all.

This week’s selection is Delicious! A Novel by Ruth Reichl. This is her first novel, but she’s written a lot about food in The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, and more. She’s published non-fiction books as well, and I’m now eager to read all of them! So it makes sense that her first novel would be about, well, food.

Billie Breslin is a young woman with a perfect palette who doesn’t cook. We don’t know why, though I promise, all will be revealed. She has dropped out of college to take a job at Delicious!, a food magazine.

As Billie struggles to create a life for herself far from family, she builds a friendship with Sal and his wife Rosalie, making his cheese shop her second home. Then there’s Sammy, the eccentric and fabulous travel writer, and Jake, the owner of the magazine. Oh, and let’s not forget Mr. Complainer, a regular customer of Sal’s!

It’s hard to write more without adding a lot of spoilers, so I’ll just add that there’s a whole subplot devoted to certain letters addressed to James Beard, who in this novel once ran Delicious!. These letters, and the story that is revealed from them, are in my opinion the meat of the book.

Billie’s past will break your heart. But along the way, there is a lot of joy, friendship, and community, plus the smells and tastes of food that will make you hungry while you read. Yes, there are recipes at the end.

Buh Bye, Social Media!

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It’s a crazy idea for an author to leave social media. Or is it?

A few weeks ago I shut off my Facebook and Twitter accounts. I’ve tried this before and chickened out at the end (they give you 30 days to change your mind). So I’m not making any guarantees here.

But this last year has taught me how very important it is to stop the bombardment of messages we get, whether it’s from the news or social media. With an autoimmune disease out of control, an essential part of healing is stress reduction.

To that end, I’ve added two meditation sessions every day, plus a mindfulness practice. And I’ve shut off most of social media.

Authors often depend on social media to get the word out about their books, and I’m no exception. However, I have also found social media to be less effective at that than we might believe. It’s easy to get lost in the sea of posts. I’ve done a little Facebook advertising, but I frankly get annoyed at the number of ads that show up in my own feed. Why would I do something I find annoying when I’m on the receiving end?

I’ll probably hang out more at Goodreads. That seems to make more sense anyway, since I would be connecting more with book lovers. It’s a much more specific audience. As with all social media, the goal there is not to scream “BUY MY BOOK!!!” but to make friends. It’s a bit daunting to feel like I am starting all over again…but it makes sense to me.

I’m also going to trust the adage that the best way to sell books is to write more of them. Without the time drain of social media, I seem to have a lot more time to, well, write.

That’s another reason why I’m hanging out more on the blog again. Here, I can say what I want. People can read it or not, and comment or not. If I get ugly comments, I can delete them. It feels a lot more empowering this way.

Finally, of course, there’s the old-fashioned getting in front of people. That scares the hell out of me. I’m a big-time introvert…but I also think we as a society are losing our social connections, and that scares me more.

Have I cut off my audience? Time will tell. But I have always said that my mental and emotional well-being comes first. I write to express myself, and I hope at some point to find people who to take the journeys within my stories. It’s more fun that way. But making this decision, difficult as it was, feels good.