Month: July 2026

How Old Were They? Henry Dunant

Henry Dunant was 73 when he won the first Nobel Peace Prize in 1901. Appalled at the suffering he witnessed during the Second Italian War of Independence, he published a book, A Memory of Solferino, and proposed that the nations of the world form their own relief societies to care for the wounded and train volunteers to treat them. Dunant helped to found the International Committee of the Red Cross in 1863, at age 35, and launch the first Geneva Convention in 1864, which has since saved the lives of millions of soldiers worldwide. Read Who Cares? about the struggle for dignity at Woodruff Home for the Aged, “a lively place where old people go to die.” Learn more about the book and its characters, aged 9-90, in NOVELS.

First Nobel Peace Prize winner helped found International Red Cross

Woodruff Home for the Aged, a lively place where old people go to die

How Old Were They? Charles Feltman

Charles Feltman, age 30, is credited with inventing the hot dog on a bun in 1871. After a modest beginning selling sausages from a pushcart, the German-American went on to establish a large restaurant complex on Brooklyn’s Coney Island that included a beer garden and carousel, and served millions of customers annually. Nathan’s hot dog stand, which sold nickel franks on the boardwalk, was opened in 1916, 45 years later, by Polish immigrant Nathan Handwerker, who originally worked for Feltman. Read Who Cares? about the struggle for dignity at Woodruff Home for the Aged, “a lively place where old people go to die.” Learn more about the book and its characters, aged 9-90, in NOVELS.

30-year-old Charles Feltman invented hot dog on a bun in Coney Island 45 years before Nathan’s opened

Woodruff Home for the Aged, a lively place where old people go to die

What I’m Reading: Whidbey: A Novel

My Goodreads and Amazon review of Whidbey: A Novel by T Kira Madden (Rated 5) – Impact Statement. Whidbey: A Novel by T Kira Madden, about a serial rapist named Calvin, is told from the perspectives of two victims and his mother. I read the book with trepidation, knowing it would be a trigger. Reading it took courage; writing it took guts. It’s a testament to Madden’s talent that she portrays these three women with insight, sensitivity, and authenticity. Birdie, raped while still in elementary school, chooses to live her life in the shadows. Her privacy is disrupted when Linzie, who was a young adolescent at the time of her assault, writes a memoir that becomes a best seller. Birdie retreats to Whidbey Island off the coast of Washington State to escape the unwanted attention deflected on her. Through Calvin’s trial and incarceration, his mother Mary Beth remains loving and loyal to her otherwise reviled son. Pitted against one another in this drama, each woman struggles with how she sees herself and how society defines her role. As a novelist myself (see my Amazon author page and Goodreads author page), who strives to make difficult characters understandable, if not likable, I admire Madden’s ability to render each protagonist with depth and honesty; she doesn’t sugar coat the outcomes for the victims or their families. The narrative is painful to read, but worth the emotional investment. Whidbey is a gripping story and valuable book, whatever brings readers to its pages.

A fraught topic, sensitively and honestly handled

Why writers read: “Many people, myself among them, feel better at the mere sight of a book.” – Jane Smiley