Since completing In the Hands of Women (pub 5/23/23) and Threadbare (pub 5/24), I can't visit New York City without feeling schizophrenic. Within hours of setting foot on the pavement, I am transported back in time. The modern and renovated buildings blur, and I begin to see through them into the past. It's both exhilarating and spooky. I imagine the people dressed in 1880 garb, the horse drawn carriages and the cart pushing vendors clogging the streets.
Last weekend, my husband and I spent a rainy weekend in New York. Our last morning, I asked him to take a very early drive through the Lower East Side - while the city was still asleep.
Hannah Isaacson, my protagonist, grew up in the Lower East Side, first in a tenement and then in a nearby apartment. The tenements were 500 square feet with no indoor plumbing, central heat, or refrigeration. A coal stove was used to warm food and their homes in winter. Outhouses and spigots for fresh water were located behind the buildings in tiny courtyards. Units were little more than indoor caves, often housing entire families and relatives. Many people threw their waste into the narrow air shafts separating buildings, allowing it to collect and contaminate the air. It was a surefire recipe for disease - many died from typhus and tuberculosis. Check out the sketch above. This was after plumbing was installed. A perfect setting for the story.
Stay tuned for my next stop on our early roadtrip!
In the meantime:
Announcements:
In the Hands of Women is available in Kindle (softcover to come) on Amazon
Release Date is May 23, 2023
Save the Date for launch event - Evening of June 15, Morristown, NJ - more details to come - you are all welcome - bring your reader friends!
Advanced Review Copies available for those who'd like to read AND write a review ahead of publication. Just send me your email.
I have starting booking talks/signing and book club groups. Please submit your requests early so I can accommodate everyone!
Jane
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