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The Most Amazing Department Store story did not come out of thin air. I’ll let you in on a little “author secret”. Writers usually steal take material from a personal experience. In this case, I am guilty as charged.
Well… not entirely. Here’s the story…
Back in 2020, just before COVID hit, my daughter was invited to spend the weekend in Montreal to visit a camp friend. On Friday night, at the shabbat table, Sandra, her friend’s grandmother was present, who shared some life-changing information.
“My grandson’s great grandmother and your great grandmother were best friends when they were teenagers!”
When Liv came home and shared this news with me, every hair on my body stood up for a standing ovation. This coincidence threw me for a loop, and the only way I could cope with it, was to sit down and write a historical fictional novel about the lives of two women who worked in a department store post WWII.
And so I did.
I took a deep dive into the 1940s and 50s retail world. Who the popular designers were and how ladies were groomed and behaved. Being post WWII, I had to research how Jews were treated. Besides the books and articles I read, I had live testimonials for the latter, as my father and aunt told me word for word what was told to my grandmother. One I will never forget was ” Well.. we don’t normally hire Jews.”
About two years later, after publication with RE:BOOKS…
Sandra, the lady from the Shabbat table that my daughter was at in Montreal had read The Most Amazing Department Store and loved it. Thank you Sandra!
Being the freelance writer that she is, Sandra wrote an article for The Westmount Independent Newspaper about her mother Lily Kutzin. You can find her article on Page 23.
For those of you who are familiar with the book, the character’s names are Vivian and Lily. My grandmother was coincidentally also named Lily. I couldn’t write about two Lily’s so I named one Vivian.
How could I leave her article just sitting there? I had so much to say and ask Sandra! So I called her and we spoke for an entire hour, and there were plenty of giggles and oh-my-goodness moments, by the way. Then I sat down and wrote a letter to the editor. You can find my letter on page 6.
What a literary adventure I have been on. I am so grateful that I was able to create a story that tells the story of great courage and most importantly great friendship.
Because that’s what it’s really all about.