Ann S. Epstein Writer

Learn History Through Fiction: Childhood Holocaust Survivors

Today is International Holocaust Remembrance Day, commemorating the liberation of Auschwitz concentration camp on January 27, 1945. An estimated 400,000 Holocaust survivors are alive today. Most were children during the Nazi reign of death. Childhood trauma of such magnitude carves deep scars in one’s mind and body, but can also build skills of resilience. As Holocaust survivors age, we hurry to capture their true stories while they are still with us. The horrors they endured are almost beyond human imagination. However, as a fiction writer, I’m called upon to use my imagination to conjure those experiences and make them real for readers. See my stories “Golo’s Transport,” in which an angry old man confronts the trauma of his parents sending him away on the Kindertransport from Germany to England on the eve of WW II (The Madison Review, Fall 2017) and “Orphan Camp,” which examines how the resilience that allowed Jewish children to survive during WWII made them resistant to adoption afterwards (Summerset Review, Winter 2019). Read more about these and my other stories in SHORT STORIES.

10,000 children were saved in the 1938 Kindertransport

Many of the estimated 25,000 children orphaned during WWII grew up in institutions

Vomit or Skeleton First Draft?

In “Go Long and Cut, or Write Short and Add?” (The Writer, 01/14/21), Libby Cudmore asks several writers to share their approach to creating first drafts. Cudmore defines the two methods as the “vomit,” in which the writer puts everything onto the page and cuts later, and the “skeleton,” in which they lay out the main characters and plot before adding details on the next round. The authors she interviews are split in their approach. I’m definitely a “vomit” rather than a “skeleton” first-drafter, with some caveats. For me, revision primarily means cutting or “killing my darlings.” By the time I’ve finished the first draft and go back to the beginning, I can judge when a scene is overdeveloped, redundant, or even irrelevant because a character or plot point has emerged more organically later or taken a different turn. That said, by the time I’m three-quarters of the way into the first draft, I start to fret about its burgeoning length and begin to write tighter. Also, because the narrative is so well established by then, I no longer feel an urge to cram in the back story. Basically, that “vomit” first draft is me talking to myself, getting my thoughts on the page so I don’t lose them. I also keep a “Parking Lot” file where I jot down ideas for later chapters, or things to remember when I revise earlier ones. I’m a child of the 60s, when we “let it all hang out.” As I age, I’m more selective about what hangs out and what remains tucked in. The same can be said of my manuscripts. For more of my thoughts on writing, see REFLECTIONS.

Why writers write: “If my doctor told me I had only six minutes to live, I wouldn’t brood. I’d type a little faster.” – Isaac Asimov

Hit Reset: Read!

Start the new year with a refreshed reading list. Add these books and refresh the smile on the faces of the independent presses that publish them:

From A Brain. A Heart. The Nerve. (Alternative Book Press): “Meinhardt’s own doctor had submitted his name for sterilization under the Nazis’ racial hygiene program.” A probing fiction biography of the actor who played the Munchkin Coroner in the 1939 Hollywood classic The Wizard of Oz. Order on Amazon.

From On the Shore (Vine Leaves Press): “Today is for talking to God, not to relatives and friends.” An emotionally charged tale of an immigrant Jewish family in turmoil when their children rebel during WWI. Order on Amazon.

From Tazia and Gemma (Vine Leaves Press): “Her parents were so proud when she was promoted from hems to sleeves, how can she disappoint them?” The heartfelt and suspenseful story of an unwed Italian immigrant who survives the 1911 Triangle Waist Co. fire and the daughter who seeks her father 50 years later. Order on Amazon.

Read more about each book in NOVELS.

Inaugurate a New Book

Ready to start the new year with a slate of new books? Add these novels to your reading list and swear to support the independent presses that publish them:

From Tazia and Gemma (Vine Leaves Press): “Ayal’s absence today means she will be spared his urging to take care of the problem growing inside her.” The heartfelt and suspenseful story of an unwed Italian immigrant who survives the 1911 Triangle Waist Co. fire and the daughter who seeks her father 50 years later. Order on Amazon.

From A Brain. A Heart. The Nerve. (Alternative Book Press): “Producers are the real wizards. They make the magic of movies happen.” A probing fiction biography of the actor who played the Munchkin Coroner in the 1939 Hollywood classic The Wizard of Oz. Order on Amazon.

From On the Shore (Vine Leaves Press): “Joining the Navy was a way to trade the petty squabbles at home for the real war overseas.” An emotionally charged tale of an immigrant Jewish family in turmoil when their children rebel during WWI. Order on Amazon.

Read more about each book in NOVELS.

What I’m Reading: Winter Light by Martha Engber

My Amazon and Goodreads review of Winter Light by Martha Engber (Rating 5) – As Darkly Bleak and Crystalline Bright as its Title. Winter Light by Martha Engber can be as darkly bleak and as crystalline bright as its title. Fifteen-year-old Mary has nothing going for her except grit. She also has good looks and a brain, but the first makes her a target while the second makes her smart enough to see what a bad hand she’s been dealt. Mary’s mother died when she was five, her alcoholic father is abusive, her friends are burnouts. She’s poor and shivering through the harsh Chicago winter of 1978-79. Desperate to escape her life for one she can’t even define, Mary reaches out to Kathleen, a prissy classmate from a storybook world. To their mutual surprise, they click. But Winter Light is not a simple rags to riches, loser to winner tale. Bad luck dogs Mary, dragging her back two steps for every step forward. As a fiction writer myself (see my Amazon author page and Goodreads author page), I’m impressed by the agile plot turns. Although promoted as a YA novel – not a genre I typically read – the depth of Engber’s characters and her insights into the conflicted feelings of two girls fascinated by their divergence as well as their points of connection, make this a compelling book for readers of all ages.

A girl with nothing but grit in her favor

Why writers read: A book can be a star, a living fire to lighten the darkness, leading out into the expanding universe.” – Madeleine L’Engle

2021 TO DO List: Read, Read, Read!

If you’ve resolved to read more books this year, put these novels on your TO READ list. You’ll also be doing the independent presses that publish them a favor.

From Tazia and Gemma (Vine Leaves Press): “They stop counting at the sixth floor. The ladder does not reach higher.” The heartfelt and suspenseful story of an unwed Italian immigrant who survives the 1911 Triangle Waist Co. fire and the daughter who seeks her father 50 years later. Order on Amazon.

From A Brain. A Heart. The Nerve. (Alternative Book Press): “Farm work made her torso as sturdy as a tree trunk. He started at the bottom and climbed to the top.” A probing fiction biography of the actor who played the Munchkin Coroner in the 1939 Hollywood classic The Wizard of Oz. Order on Amazon.

From On the Shore (Vine Leaves Press): “An hour ago, he’d have welcomed the hot soup. Now, the argument with Avram inflamed his desire to leave.” An emotionally charged tale of an immigrant Jewish family in turmoil when their children rebel during WWI. Order on Amazon.

Read more about each book in NOVELS.

Resolved to Read More in 2021?

If you promised yourself to read more this year, add these books to your reading list and resolve to support the independent presses that publish them:

From On the Shore (Vine Leaves Press): “You smart kids think you’re invulnerable. Ignorant ones have the good sense to be afraid of dying.” An emotionally charged tale of an immigrant Jewish family in turmoil when their children rebel during WWI. Order on Amazon.

From Tazia and Gemma (Vine Leaves Press): “I was skeptical about whether Tazia could do the work, but she was as strong as any man.” The heartfelt and suspenseful story of an unwed Italian immigrant who survives the 1911 Triangle Waist Co. fire and the daughter who seeks her father 50 years later. Order on Amazon.

From A Brain. A Heart. The Nerve. (Alternative Book Press): “Just wait until this war is over and you ladies is back in the kitchen.” A probing fiction biography of the actor who played the Munchkin Coroner in the 1939 Hollywood classic The Wizard of Oz. Order on Amazon.

Read more about each book in NOVELS.

What I’m Reading: Monogamy: A Novel by Sue Miller

My Amazon and Goodreads review of Monogamy: A Novel by Sue Miller (Rating 5) – Under Small Tremors an Earthquake of Emotions. Monogamy: A Novel by Sue Miller is the story of a community anchored by a marriage. At the center is Graham, expansive, enthusiastic, greedy by his own admission, but equally generous. Readers also hear from his first wife Frieda, who still loves him, and their son Lucas; Graham’s best friend Bill, with whom he owns a bookstore in Boston; the many friends who frequent the store and attend Graham’s parties; and Graham’s daughter Sarah, who he had with Annie, his demure wife of thirty years. Ultimately, however, this book is Annie’s story. When Graham suddenly dies (not a spoiler; it happens in the first chapter), Annie a photographer, is plunged into grief. The world she inhabits was constructed by Graham, and despite momentary twinges, she was willingly absorbed into his orbit. How will she exist without him? Months after Graham’s death, Annie discovers he was unfaithful. Her grief is obliterated by rage. As others continue to mourn, Annie distances herself, like a photographer hiding behind a camera. A seemingly small encounter finally allows her to reclaim her grief, and her life. As a fiction writer myself (see my Amazon author page and Goodreads author page), I admire Miller’s interweaving of voices, attention to the details that build our individual and shared lives, and above all, her gift for quietly probing small tremors beneath which lie an earthquake of emotions. Monogamy is a snapshot that, when developed, reveals a big picture.

Why writers read: “A good book is an education of the heart.” – Susan Sontag

North American Review to Publish “Death, Shmeath”

I’m thrilled to announce that my story “Death, Shmeath” will be published by North American Review, the oldest literary journal in the U.S., with a jaw-dropping roster of authors since its founding in 1815. Here’s the log line: In “Death, Shmeath,” set in 1932 Brooklyn and based on a real character, an Orthodox father struggles with his son’s worldwide fame as the first and only gay Jewish matador. I first read about Sidney Franklin, the real-life matador, two years ago in a series of articles written during Gay Pride Week. I knew there was a story there, but it took a while to figure out who it belonged to. When I decided it was the father, I was ready to write this work of fiction. Read more in SHORT STORIES.

Sidney Franklin, the gay Jewish matador from Brooklyn

Learn History Through Fiction: Outspoken Women

100 years ago today ago, on January 5, 1921, suffragette Sylvia Pankhurst harangued the jury at London’s Guildhall to protest her arrest on the charge of sedition. Pankhurst said she faced death many times for her beliefs and was not afraid to do so again. She was sent back to Holloway prison, and continued to speak out against the suppression of women, fascism, racism, and economic inequality. Read about strong women fighting social norms in an American immigrant family during that era in On the Shore. Order on Amazon. Read more about the book in NOVELS.