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.
December 2 is the release date for my latest novel, Who Cares? about the struggle for dignity at Woodruff Home for the Aged, “a lively place where old people go to die.” The tale is told through the eyes of eight memorable characters, ages 9 to 90. Read more about the book on the publisher’s order page and in NOVELS.
Welcome to Woodruff Home for Aged, a lively place where old people go to die
Louis Braille invented the Braille Language For The Blind at 15. Born in France in 1809, he was blinded at the age of 3. While a student at the Royal Institute for Blind Youth in 1824, he met Charles Barbier, an officer who had developed “sonography,” a system of written communication based on raised dots. Though the system was developed with the French Army in mind, Braille believed a similar method could be used by people who were blind and created what is now known the written language named for him. Read Who Cares? about the struggle for dignity at “a lively place where old people go to die.” Learn more about the book and its characters, aged 9-90, in NOVELS.
Braille’s language of raised dots enables the blind to read
Woodruff Home for the Aged, a lively place where old people go to die
Everyone is invited to help launch my new novel Who Cares? at Ann Arbor’s Booksweet Bookstore, about Woodruff Home for the Aged, “a lively place where old people go to die.” The tale is told through the eyes of eight memorable characters, ages 9 to 90. Read more about the book on the NOVELS page of my website. Also reading are authors Maureen Aitken and Keith Hood. The event is free but please register at the Eventbrite site. Support Booksweet, your community bookstore!
Woodruff Home for the Aged: A lively place where old people go to die
Author Ann S. Epstein writes novel, stories, memoir, poems, and essays
December 2 is the release date for my latest novel, Who Cares? about the struggle for dignity at Woodruff Home for the Aged, “a lively place where old people go to die.” The tale is told through the eyes of eight memorable characters, ages 9 to 90. Read more about the book on the order page and in NOVELS.
Welcome to Woodruff Home for Aged, a lively place where old people go to die
World Kindness Day, celebrated every year on November 13th, reminds us of our universal capacity to show compassion and good will toward one another. Established in 1998 by a global collective of helping organizations, the World Kindness Movement and its annual celebration transcends political, religious, and geographical divides. People are encouraged to perform acts of kindness — paying for a stranger’s coffee, organizing community events — in the belief that they will be inspired to be guided by kindness throughout the year. Collectively, small acts can have a big impact. Want to know about other lesser-known holidays coming up each month? Sign up for the monthly Ann S. Epstein Writer Newsletter using my website CONTACT US page. Write NEWSLETTER in the subject line and confirm the email address where you want to receive the Newsletter in the message. Remember to be kind, today and every day!
Small acts of kindness can collectively have a big impact!
Roz Chast’s drawing WHO CARES? and my novel WHO CARES? have little in common (aside from humor and pathos). Yet, as a Chast devotee (my refrigerator door is a gallery of her work), I’m thrilled by the coincidence. Chast’s cartoon, featuring one of her signature characters, appears in the September 22, 2025 issue of The New Yorker. My book, about Woodruff Home for the Aged, “a lively place where old people go to die,” comes out on December 02, 2025. Read more about the book Who Cares? in NOVELS.
Dear Roz, I care!
A plea for aging with dignity
Folk artist Grandma Moses (born Anna Mary Robertson Moses) began painting at 76, when her arthritic hands could no longer embroider. Not one to sit around idly after a life of farm work, she took up painting. She never had any formal art training, or much education at all, but an art dealer passing through her town of Eagle Bridge, NY saw her works in a drug store, bought them for a few dollars, and arranged to have them shown in the Museum of Modern Art in New York City. At the time of her death, more than a thousand canvases later, she had paintings in museums as far away as Vienna and Paris. Grandma Moses died in 1961 at the age of 101. 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.
You’re never too old to take up a new hobby
Woodruff Home for the Aged, a lively place where old people go to die
My novel Who Cares? which arrives December 02, 2025, is about the struggle for dignity at Woodruff Home for the Aged, “a lively place where old people go to die.” The characters range in age from 9 to 90. This new series of posts reveals the amazing things done by people of all ages, from infants to centenarians. Read more about the book in NOVELS and enjoy the posts!
How old were people when they did noteworthy things?
Welcome to Woodruff Home for the Aged, a lively place where old people go to die
My Goodreads and Amazon review of Last House: The Age of Oil by Jessica Shattuck (Rated 5) – Who Pays for Progress? Jessica Shattuck’s sweeping novel, Last House, begins and ends with Big Oil, a geopolitical force that simultaneously fuels the world economy and ignites a family saga. Its title is the literal name of the family dwelling built by a man named John Last, a place to escape “when the world ends,” and a metaphor for decay. The narrative begins when the allied victory in WWII spurred well-intentioned progress and ends with the relentless pursuit of energy that today threatens the environment. As the world is torn apart, so are the generations in the Taylor family: Nick, the father, a veteran who is an idealistic lawyer for an oil company; Bet, the mother, who abandoned dreams of a career for suburbia; daughter Katherine, a rebellious child of the 60s; and son Harry, a “nature boy” before the term existed. In the background lurks Carter Weston, the amoral yet entertaining character who’s a fixture in spy novels. In the events of this finely plotted book, the peacemakers become suspect, their conciliatory motives perverted into their exact opposites. Meanwhile the fomenters of discord become heroes, the standard bearers of government and business. And beneath the national and worldwide drama, one family struggles to understand the generational rift that leads to tragedy and tears them apart. As a writer of 20th century historical fiction (see my Amazon author page and Goodreads author page), I admire Shattuck’s ability to interweave meticulous research with an absorbing story. At the panoramic level, Last House is an indictment of corporate hypocrisy and political manipulation. At a granular level, it is a heartbreaking tale of parental and filial loss. It would appear that no one wins until subsequent generations rebuild trust from the ground up. The other winners are the readers who will emerge wiser and deeply moved by this thoughtful and compassionate book.
How big oil threatens one small family
Why writers read: “A good book is an event in my life.” – Stendhal
Fittingly, the “Famous Friends” posts to promote my novel The Sister Knot, about the life-sustaining friendship between two women, ended with two women – Thelma & Louise – who seal their friendship with a death pact. The next series, “How Old Were They?” will promote my new novel Who Cares? which is about the struggle for dignity at Woodruff Home for the Aged, “a lively place where old people go to die.” The posts will open your eyes to the amazing things people do, no matter their age, from infants to centenarians. Enjoy the new series. You can revisit all the “Famous Friends” posts as well as “Bad Dad” and “Survivor Stories” by clicking those categories. Or scroll the entire blog and enjoy whatever post you land on. Learn more about all my books in NOVELS.
Woodruff Home for the Aged, a lively place where old people go to die
How old were people when they did noteworthy things?