Ann S. Epstein writes novels, short stories, memoir, essays, and poems. Please use the links or site menu to go to the HOME PAGE; learn about her NOVELS, SHORT STORIES, MEMOIR, ESSAYS, and POEMS; find interesting facts in BEHIND THE STORY; read REFLECTIONS on writing; check NEWS for updates on publications and related events; see REVIEWS; learn about her END-OF-LIFE DOULA credentials and services; and CONTACT US to send webmail.
Author: annsepstein@att.net
Ann S. Epstein is an award-winning writer of novels, short stories, memoirs, and essays.
The friendship between the Queen and her Indian attendant defied social norms and sparked resentment in the Royal Household. Karim offered the Queen comfort and companionship. He was her “Munshi,” or Urdu teacher, and rose from servant to trusted advisor. Read The Sister Knot about two resilient women, orphaned in WW2, who defy fate to sustain a lifelong friendship. A compelling novel about the power of sisterhood. Learn more about the book in NOVELS.
This royal-servant friendship caused a stir
Two resilient women, two separate journeys, one lasting friendship
As a sick child, Tesla found comfort in the stories of Twain. Twain, always enamored of inventions, later befriended the adult Tesla. They likely met at a private party or men’s club in NYC and thereafter spent a lot of time together. A famous photo Tesla took of Twain has strange blotches, rumored to be a precursor of X-rays. True or not, it’s a great story featuring the writer and the inventor. Read The Sister Knot about two resilient women, orphaned in WW2, who defy fate to sustain a lifelong friendship. A compelling novel about the power of sisterhood. Learn more about the book in NOVELS.
Eerie photo of Tesla & Twain may be a precursor of X-rays
Two resilient women, two separate journeys, one lasting friendship
By their own admission, Mortimer and Eugene, the two aspiring lawyers in Our Mutual Friend by Charles Dickens, are lazy, disillusioned, and bored. Their dry humor and satirical outlook on life make them entertaining characters. By the end of the book, however, the friends inspire each other to become better men who make courageous choices. Read The Sister Knot about two resilient women, orphaned in WW2, who defy fate to sustain a lifelong friendship. A compelling novel about the power of sisterhood. Learn more about the book in NOVELS.
Two aspiring but lazy lawyers delight readers in Our Mutual Friend by Charles Dickens
Two resilient women, two separate journeys, one lasting friendship
Tada! Here’s the cover for my next novel Who Cares? which is due out on 02 December 2025. The book is available for pre-order now. Who Cares? is about the struggle for dignity at Woodruff Home for the Aged, “a lively place where old people go to die.” Read more about the book and its unforgettable cast of characters on the order page and on the NOVELS page of this website. Start your holiday shopping early. Enjoy and thanks for the fandom!
Welcome to Woodruff Home for Aged, a lively place where old people go to die
My Goodreads and Amazon reviews of Tell Me Everything: A Novel by Elizabeth Strout (Rated 5) – Tell Me More.Tell Me Everything by Elizabeth Strout brings together the characters she’s introduced readers to in her previous novels. In this volume, Bob Burgess is the center who draws the others into his orbit, but each has untold stories of their own to relate. Individually, these “unrecorded lives” have often been challenging, even painful, yet they are not extraordinary within the panoply of human experience. Likewise, the events and emotions they share when their lives are entangled in Strout’s latest book are unexceptionable. Except that in this author’s capable hands, each story acquires the depth, radiance, or tragedy that elevates it to a level worth telling and remembering. As a novelist myself (see my Amazon author page and Goodreads author page), I admire Strout’s gentle but firm control as she navigates the bumpy terrain her characters traverse. Their small worlds are big enough to accommodate us all. I didn’t want the book to end, and impatiently await Strout’s next book so she can tell me more.
Stories worth listening to, told by a masterful writer
Why writers read: “To acquire the habit of reading is to construct for yourself a refuge from almost all the miseries of life.” – W. Somerset Maugham
The two rap artists started as friends who admired each other’s work, Tupac on the West Coast and Biggie on the East. The friendship changed to rivalry when Tupac suspected Biggie of having him robbed and shot outside a recording studio. Tupac died in September 1996, six days after being gunned down; Biggie was shot and killed six months later. Hip hop is still reverberating. Read The Sister Knot about two resilient women, orphaned in WW2, who defy fate to sustain a lifelong friendship. A compelling novel about the power of sisterhood. Learn more about the book in NOVELS.
A friendly rivalry turned deadly
Two resilient women, two separate journeys, one lasting friendship
In 1777, Gun Hill Road in the Bronx, where I later grew up, was the site where American colonists used a cannon to defeat the British in the Revolutionary War. In elementary school in the 1950s, students at P.S. 94 learned history by writing essays about the war hero after whom our street was named. (Putnam Place, my street, honored General Israel Putnam, popularly known as “Old Put.”) The 3.5-mile road features prominently in my latest book, which begins in 1946, as the site of drag races and gang wars in a working class immigrant neighborhood. Learn more about this historic thoroughfare and its freedom-loving residents in The Sister Knot a novel about two resilient women, orphaned in WW2, who defy fate to sustain a lifelong friendship.
Cannon used in American Revolution
Two resilient women, two separate journeys, one lasting friendship
My Goodreads and Amazon reviews of Chomp Press Pull by Elaina Battista-Parsons (Rated 5) – A Sensational World.Chomp Press Pull: Stories of a Sensory Self by Elaina Battista-Parsons is an open invitation to explore the world through our senses. Her spirited memoir takes readers on an immersive tour not only through sights and sounds, but also smells, tastes, and textures rarely explored in literature. Each sensory memory conjures a person or experience that shaped who she is today. Likewise, readers will be drawn back to the sensory worlds that defined them. As a writer myself (see my Amazon author page and Goodreads author page ), I know the English language has a dearth of adjectives and metaphors for describing sensations other than sight and sound. Battista-Parsons supplies her own vocabulary by detailing how her brain and body respond — nerves, muscles, bones. In welcome doses, sensory input evokes her delight. Too much causes distress until she masters techniques to manage the overload. And while not a “how to” or “self-help” book, Chomp Press Pull lets us better understand, support, even envy, children and adults who experience the environment in ways that may seem foreign but comprise the spectrum of human sensory wiring. Battista-Parson has learned to feast on her senses; her memoir will help readers relish theirs.
Understanding and appreciating sensory overload
Why writers read: “Fill your house with stacks of books, in all the crannies and all the nooks.” – Theodor Geisel, a.k.a. Dr. Seuss
This unfortunate duo, minor characters in William Shakespeare’s Hamlet and stars of Tom Stoppard’s Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead are clueless friends, innocents caught up in palace intrigue, who stick together as fate pushes them toward an inglorious end. Read The Sister Knot about two resilient women, orphaned in WW2, who defy fate to sustain a lifelong friendship. A compelling novel about the power of sisterhood. Learn more about the book in NOVELS.
Palace intrigue seals the fate of Hamlet’s two hapless & clueless friends
Two resilient women, two separate journeys, one lasting friendship
In a true coming-of-age story, Homer, Quentin, Roy Lee, and O’Dell refuse to accept the traditional path for poor West Virginia boys. Against the odds and overcoming doubts, this “brotherhood” pursues education, achieves something remarkable, and unites a town in the process. Read The Sister Knot about two resilient women, orphaned in WW2, who defy fate to sustain a lifelong friendship. A compelling novel about the power of sisterhood. Learn more about the book in NOVELS.
Four poor West Virginia boyhood friends overcome the odds
Two resilient women, two separate journeys, one lasting friendship
