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.
You’re invited to an Ann Arbor District Library event: “Imagination Meets Experience: Alternative Paths to the Writing Life.” Authors Ann S. Epstein and Janet Gilsdorf discuss their journeys to becoming writers and blending real and imagined events in their writing with interviewer Danielle LaVaque-Manty. Tuesday, January 24, 2023, 6-7 PM, AADL Downtown Branch, 4th Floor Meeting Room. Books will be available for purchase and signing. More at the AADL event page.
My Goodreads and Amazon review of Mercury Pictures Presents by Anthony Marra (Rating 3) – Unpopped. Anthony Marra’s Mercury Pictures Presents is a witty novel about Hollywood pre- to post-WW2. The book stars Artie Feldman, the vulgar middle-aged Jewish owner of once-thriving studio that teetered when talkies displaced silent films, and Maria Lagana, a wise-cracking Italian immigrant who worked her way up to become his chief assistant. In a strong off-screen supporting role is Maria’s father, an anti-fascist lawyer confined by Mussolini. The studio is under investigation by congressional isolationists who suspect its films are propagandizing in favor of the U.S. entering the war. Then Pearl Harbor happens and the reels are rewound in the studio’s favor. Mercury Pictures Presents is a book best read slowly to savor each guffaw-worthy quip. Marra has also done his research and serves up a lively picture of Hollywood in the 1930s and 40s. As a writer of historical fiction myself (see my Amazon author page and Goodreads author page), I admired Marra’s immersion in the industry’s Golden Age. However, while his characters are too original to be stereotypes, they often lack depth. Some extras and scenes exist solely to show off his esoteric knowledge and special effects arsenal. Those entertained by blockbusters may relish his verbal pyrotechnics, but those who prize character over caricature will find Marra’s novel as unsatisfying as the unpopped kernels at the bottom of the concession stand popcorn box.
In 1939, 90% of Americans opposed declaring war on Germany; 95% were against admitting more Jews. In 1941, after Pearl Harbor, resistance to entering the war decreased but not opposition to admitting Jews. History shows America failed to end WW2 sooner or admit those fleeing Nazi persecution. Read about a German Jewish family who tries to escape to the U.S. in the novel One Person’s Loss. Learn more about the book in NOVELS.
“Each day, when I returned to camp from a work detail in the cement factory or on the railroad, I was sprayed with so-called bug poison, the likely reason I later had chronic skin cancer.” Read about two Holocaust survivors, German Jewish newlyweds sent to America by their parents to have children to “save our people,” in One Person’s Loss. Learn more about the book in NOVELS.
U.S. papers buried intelligence reports about Nazis murdering Jews, of no concern to most Americans. Instead they played up WW2 as an anti-fascist fight for freedom. History shows America failed to end WW2 sooner or admit those fleeing Nazi persecution. Read about a German Jewish family who tries to escape to the U.S. in the novel One Person’s Loss. Learn more about the book in NOVELS.
“Many people, desperate to end it all, chose to ‘touch the wire.’ They lay there dead, electrocuted, looking beautiful. When my sister and I got scarlet fever. and were selected to go to the gas chamber, we wanted to ‘touch the wire.’ We were almost there when our block leader pulled us back so we could continue to work for her.” Read about two Holocaust survivors, German Jewish newlyweds sent to America by their parents to have children to “save our people,” in One Person’s Loss. Learn more about the book in NOVELS.
“On my 17th birthday, I was transported to Auschwitz. When the selection officer asked how old I was, I stood on tiptoe and lied that I was 19. He let me join my brother, age 20, who was already with the workers.” Read about two Holocaust survivors, German Jewish newlyweds sent to America by their parents to have children to “save our people,” in One Person’s Loss. Learn more about the book in NOVELS.
After completing an intensive training course, I have earned a National End-of-Life Doula Alliance (NEDA) Proficiency Badge and End-of-Life Doula (EOLD) Certification from The Dying Year. An EOLD provides a wide range of non-medical services and referrals to people preparing for death. They coordinate with, but do not replace, the help offered by hospice, social workers, financial and legal advisors, funeral arrangers, home health aides, or other caregivers. Within their scope of practice, EOLDs are professionals bound by a code of ethics. Applying my literary skills, the primary service I offer is helping people write their Life Review and Ethical Will. A life review is the process of looking at our experiences, especially our “stories,” to draw meaning from our lives. An ethical will is a statement of the values and life lessons that one wants pass along to those left behind. If you are interested for yourself, or on behalf of a loved one, I’d be honored to assist you. Learn more about my credentials and services at END-OF-LIFE DOULA.
The U.S. issued visas to 25,000 refugees escaping the Nazis, including Jews, but refused 800,000 on the waiting list, most of whom perished. History shows America failed to end WW2 sooner or admit those fleeing Nazi persecution. Read about a German Jewish family who tries to escape to the U.S. in the novel One Person’s Loss. Learn more about the book in NOVELS.
My Goodreads and Amazon review of The Girl Who Taught Herself to Fly by Kwan Kew Lai (Rating 5) – Not Her Mother’s Life. Kwan Kew Lai’s memoir, The Girl Who Taught Herself to Fly, is a soaring account of her flight from childhood poverty in Malaysia to college and medical school in America, a prelude to her subsequent work as a physician and global medical human rights activist. Amenities most people take for granted — one’s own bed, new socks, sweets — were to Lai pleasures reserved for royalty. Yet she doesn’t indulge in self-pity for the hardships she suffered, or her father’s dismissal of daughters being as worthless as “spilled rice.” It’s pointless to waste time feeling sorry for yourself when there is so much to do to escape the fate of her mother and countless women like her, consigned to bearing many children and struggling to feed them. Filled with evocative recollections of her family and country of birth, Lai’s writing propels readers forward much as she spurred herself. She soon realized that education was her ticket out. To her own credit, Lai was smart and hard-working. To the credit of others, a few family members and teachers encouraged her, and Wellesley College took an academic and financial chance on her. While rejecting her mother’s life, and her father’s attitudes, Lai is remarkably nonjudgmental. As a writer myself (see my Amazon author page and Goodreads author page, I appreciate Lai’s ability to bring this compassion for difficult characters to the page. The Girl Who Taught Herself to Fly is a stirring and inspirational tale of what is possible from a grateful and talented author.
