The Red Leather Diary: Reclaiming a Life Through the Pages of a Lost Journal

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The Red Leather Diary: Reclaiming a Life Through the Pages of a Lost Journal

by Lily Koppel (Goodreads Author)

3.31 · rating details · 1,401 ratings · 411 reviews

For more than half a century, the red leather diary languished inside a steamer trunk. Rescued from a Dumpster on Manhattan's Upper West Side, it found its way to Lily Koppel, a young writer, who opened its tarnished brass lock and journeyed into an enthralling past. The diary painted a breathtaking portrait of a bygone New York--of glamorous nights at El Morocco and eleg

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Paperback, 321 pages

Published February 1st 2009 by Harper Perennial

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May 28, 2008

Amanda rated it

· review of another edition

Recommended to Amanda by: Chicks on Lit book club pick for May!

Shelves: written-by-goodreaders, 2008, better-than-chick-lit

At the end of chapter 13:

So far this book is an inspiration of living life to its fullest. Not because this teenager is necessarily more wonderful than any other human being whose footsteps have fallen on this earth; but because you can read it and look at it from afar, and touch its edges of life lived; as if it's in a snow globe or behind a fog of time. You read and you know that there is a 90 year old woman sitting beside you, fingers outstretched, touching the same edge as you ...moreAt the end of chapter 13:

So far this book is an inspiration of living life to its fullest. Not because this teenager is necessarily more wonderful than any other human being whose footsteps have fallen on this earth; but because you can read it and look at it from afar, and touch its edges of life lived; as if it's in a snow globe or behind a fog of time. You read and you know that there is a 90 year old woman sitting beside you, fingers outstretched, touching the same edge as you are, stirring her own past inside herself. She says she lives more fully and passionately at 90 because of this reflection of self; of the past, the present, and the future swimming together, holding hands, hearts beating in unison. 90 year old Florence will tell you that there is no separate Me Yesterday, Me Today, Me Tomorrow. There is only ME.

The comments I wrote in the Chicks on Lit book club discussion after finishing the book in its entirety:

As I come away from the book with some time to reflect, I find I have some overwhelming thoughts...

Everything we read affects us differently depending on where we are in our lives. I am in a transition. Mourning the loss of a future I'll never have, swimming upstream through the nagging desire to make my future my own, and finally, being immobilized by the realization that decisions are terribly difficult with no black or white answers. Florence, of course, affected me becuase she was in a transition, too (what teenager isn't). I don't think she would have married if she weren't pressured to do so, though I believe that she did love Nat. (Oh, what is love anyway? Now that's a topic for another thread...) Flo wouldn't have done a damn thing to change her life if it weren't by force--the force of her parents, the force of the war, the force of simple adulthood. And as she looked back, a 90 year old woman reflecting upon her youth, she oozed a sense of loss with her words. She said (I'm paraphrasing), "Yes I had a good life, but never the life I'd imagined." At the end, I found myself questioning whether it's ok to live a life never imagined. Can we feel satisfied, looking back from 90 years old, if our lives veered left, right, over, under? I think not. If we want satisfaction, we must embrace the unexpected, lay aside all plans, and swing as freely on our tethers as the wind allows--only then may our aged selves sink into peace.

I look to Lily Koppel as well. The image of her, standing in a pink flapper dress, the fusion of teenage Flo, crone Flo, and Lily herself beating as one heart inside one body. Lily is us. She is all of us. A woman affected by an anonymous life scribbled on diary pages. A woman in the midst of her own soul's path to peace. Is she sitting at her desk, as I am, staring up at ceiling tiles? Are you? And you and you? Are we women, as one, marching towards our future in the shadow of the adult Florence, aching to make our lives our own? I hope so. I hope we are moving forward, by inch and mile, hand in hand together, ready to take what comes. I hope for myself, that the day when I come into my crone self, I can look back and say, "Yes I had a good life, but never the life I'd imagined... And I loved every breath!" (less)

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May 21, 2008

Laura rated it

· review of another edition

Poorly written -- at times the narrative changed tense and narrator, and it wasn't clear why -- and frustrating. I would have wanted to read the diary, not a fictionalized version of the diary.

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May 22, 2008

KateSpears rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: one-reads

I enjoyed this book. That being said, it was not great by any stretch. It was almost as if the author just described and described things, but nothing ever actually happened. And the things that did happen weren't really stories, just descriptions. The concept was very neat, although I wish that more images from the diary had been used (i.e. her hand-written words/story). The format is where the author (Lily Koppel) would give an excerpt from the diary and then follow it with a long description ...more

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Aug 19, 2008

Maria rated it

· review of another edition

Recommends it for: everyone

I really enjoyed reading this book. This is the true story of the discovery of a long-forgotten diary. The diary of Florence Wolfson lay undiscovered for over half a century until the author, Lily Koppel, finds it in a dumpster. Koppel is a writer for the New York Times and was naturally curious about the content of the diary. She searched for the diary's author, and 90 year-old Florence told her all about her life in 1920s and 1930s New York. Florence as a teenager had been full of energy and h...more

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May 19, 2008

Deborah rated it

· review of another edition

Recommended to Deborah by: book club

having read most of my book club's review of this book I had decided to give it very little time. The 2 parts of the book I found the most interesting was to see NYC though the eyes of someone living in it as it grew up. The seconded was knowing that this woman was a contemporary of my parents. I'm am more grateful than ever for the values my parents lived and died by. A young girl growing up in the wilds of the west had a very different outlook on life than the self indulged girl of this bo...more

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May 08, 2009

Wendy rated it

· review of another edition

Recommended to Wendy by: Vogue

A rare book that can be read over again. A found diary reveals a fascinating world infused with art, love and literature. A young journalist tracks down the woman whose 1930s world was hidden, locked away in a trunk for almost 75 years and then is brought to light. Crystal clear prose shimmer in this debut biography/memoir by Lily Koppel.

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Aug 11, 2008

Janelle rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: book-club, own

At first I thought it was the fact that I couldn't relate to Florence's life growing up that caused me to not like the book. It's not that we grew up 60 years apart, that caused me to unrelate, it was her upper middle class, lower upper class upbringing, her lesbian trysts, her quest for love to complete her, that I couldn't relate too. It all seemed unrealistic. But then I realized I've read other recounts of people's lives that I was unable to relate to, and enjoyed them. After some though...more

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Aug 04, 2008

Rose Ann rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: signed-books

I love that this journal was found in a dumpster...almost gone forever, but found. And that Lily Koppel found the owner of the diary, and returned it to her.

I was intrigued by all the treasures that were found in the steamer trunks, and this journal added a "voice" to the other treasures.
I loved the photos that were included in the book, and all the historical information on Manhattan.

How wonderful for Florence, who had such a passion for literature in he...more

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Jun 05, 2008

Susann rated it

· review of another edition

Recommends it for: Marjorie Morningstar fans

Florence Wolfson was a smart, privileged Manhattan teenager when she started her diary in 1929. For five years, she faithfully recorded a sentence or two every night. Decades later, Lily Koppel found the diary, found the much older Florence, and told her story.
What a life she had! Her teenage life in the 1930s was leaps and bounds more adventurous than my experiences in the 1980s.
Florence sometimes comes off as a little vain and self-absorbed, but, hey, it's a diary: it's supposed...more

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Jun 02, 2008

Tricia rated it

· review of another edition

Here's the most interesting part of this book:
Lily Koppel was a gossip columnist for the New York Times when she found the red leather diary in a dumpster outside her building. She decided to track down the owner, who miraculously was 90 years old and still alive.

Here's the rest of the book:
The owner of the diary, Florence Wolfson, grew up among the Manhattan elite in the '20s and '30s. For Florence, life was all about art, plays, music, literature, and sexual experimenta...more

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Apr 30, 2008

Julie rated it

· review of another edition

I had high hopes for this book but ended up very bored by it. The premise of the book is pretty cool. It's the true story written by a young woman journalist-in-training who found a very old diary outside her nyc apartment building a few years ago. Diary was written by a teen ager in 1930s manhattan. She tracks down the woman who wrote the diary who is actually still alive and well. This book is basically a recap of this woman's life, which would only interest me if I knew her personally or...more

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Sep 22, 2008

melanie (lit*chick) rated it

· review of another edition

Recommended to melanie (lit*chick) by: www.wordstomouth.com

I wanted to like this book more than I did. I loved getting to know Florence Wolfson through the pages of her diary. I loved the history of NYC.
I didn't like so much the presentation by Lily Koppel.Her framing of the pages seemed kind of dry.
Still recommended for a glimpse at life in NYC from diary entries that are really stunning. Florence is a smart lady with an amazingly intersting life.
And it makes me wish I'd kept a diary...

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May 26, 2008

Rona rated it

· review of another edition

First-time author Lily Koppel found an engaging diary written during the Jazz Age by a gifted, beautiful teen, Florence Wolfson who dreamed of becoming a writer but was blown off course by her parents' insistence that she find a rich husband. When Lily tracked her down, nonagerian Florence reconnected with her young self. The author doesn't explore the issues raised by Florence's story, but the book is touching and evocative.

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Apr 12, 2011

SarahC rated it

This book was certainly a combination of factors which make it enticing to pick up. The author of the book is a young, modern-day journalist, Lily Koppel, just beginning a career with the New York Times. She rents a room from a tenant of an old Upper West Side apartment building. On an average morning, she finds a treasure of old trunks being discarded from the basement of the building. A prime item is discovered within the trunks: the daily journal of a literate, artistic teen of the 1920s. Thi...moreThis book was certainly a combination of factors which make it enticing to pick up. The author of the book is a young, modern-day journalist, Lily Koppel, just beginning a career with the New York Times. She rents a room from a tenant of an old Upper West Side apartment building. On an average morning, she finds a treasure of old trunks being discarded from the basement of the building. A prime item is discovered within the trunks: the daily journal of a literate, artistic teen of the 1920s. This is a rich beginning for a story.

Koppel grasps the brass ring of possibilities here. She researches that era of New York, locates the author of the diary, and, through interviews with the now ninety-year-old woman, provides us with the story behind the girl and the diary. As I believe Koppel states, this book ultimately tells of a search for self in the one of the most raw forms -- a young woman of the early 20th century, creative and bright, at odds with her immigrant parents, and unguided in a world of new options for women.

We see Florence Wolfson Howitt, touchingly through her own writing, living in 1930s America and then find that woman still alive and accessible now. Koppel’s interviews with the elderly Howitt help to complete the story began in the diary. This fine attempt seems to wane though as Howitt’s current-day conversations don’t necessarily pick up the issues she dealt with in the diary. Did she live with these issues for a lifetime? Did she conquer her struggles? What were her emotions during these seventy years of the fast-paced 20th and 21th centuries? The book is interesting and valuable because obviously it brings up the dialog of what women faced in the 1920’s and beyond, but this could have been covered in much more depth. Howitt’s relationships with women are given so much attention in the context of her original diary, yet the elderly Howitt responds that she was simply living a trend of the time to seek lesbian encounters. As she ended her diary entries, young Howitt fled to Europe in desperation to get away and search for herself. However, material from the Koppel interviews moreso describe a summer of Frances meeting and being romanced by men away from her designated female traveling companion. We are never really told if, within this situation, she did actually find any part of her missing self.

I liked the evocation of New York City and the description of Koppel’s exploration of the city’s remnants from the era Florence Howitt’s youth. Koppel’s obvious love of her city is one of the adornments of this book. Koppel is a talented writer and certainly has an eye for important themes. It may not have lived up to my expectations, but I am glad I read this book. I exit the story thinking about the growing, changing city as backdrop for so many people new to the country, new to the century, and struggling to find their purpose and place as Florence Howitt struggled. Florence seemed to follow a very bold approach to her own young life, but we might find very similar stories in all the undiscovered red leather diaries out there. (less)

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Apr 18, 2009

Coco rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: non-fiction, women, history

Finished! What a disappointment. This book, like "Triangle," had so much promise and just failed to deliver. The premise, that a diary was found in a modern day dumpster, chronicling the life of a young girl coming of age in the late 1920s/early 30s in New York, was excellent. Unfortunately, author Lily Koppel's writing was just lame. Unimaginative and choppy, she types in Florence's journal entries, but nothing more. She just never creates a world or character to captivate...more
Finished! What a disappointment. This book, like "Triangle," had so much promise and just failed to deliver. The premise, that a diary was found in a modern day dumpster, chronicling the life of a young girl coming of age in the late 1920s/early 30s in New York, was excellent. Unfortunately, author Lily Koppel's writing was just lame. Unimaginative and choppy, she types in Florence's journal entries, but nothing more. She just never creates a world or character to captivate the reader.

The only reason I stuck with this one was because it was for my next book club. One part I did enjoy was the early description of the contents of the steamer trunks that were in the dumpster where the discarded diary was found--Lucite handbag, Grace Kelly evening bag, the flapper dress, etc. I had just been going through a box full of vintage hats and gloves for a display case, so this part resonated. One interesting thing I noticed about the vintage evening gloves--women's hands used to be much smaller! My hands are pretty small and I could not even squeeze into most of the gloves.

The lack of compelling descriptive writing also disturbed me. When Lily meets a private detective near the end of the book, she doesn't even bother to describe his appearance. I guess the photo is supposed to satisfy us. I found so many such instances where there were gaping holes. Florence ends up married but we are never told the details, which actually might have been interesting.

Florence, a young Jewish girl, travels to Europe before WWII. She is befriended by two Germans who tell her she's the perfect Aryan woman. She hides her Jewishness. She hangs out with people who protest America's involvement in the war. Koppel never bothers to ask her how she felt about this later in her life. She does, however, spend a lot of time describing Florence's outfits and romantic liaisons.

I think part of the problem is that Koppel identifies so closely with her subject. She takes obvious pride in being told that she and Florence look alike and that Florence was considered a beauty. Koppel loves to relate how fabulous her legs are and write about her glorious red hair. Maybe if she hadn't become so enamored with Florence (she feels like her granddaughter), she would have asked some deeper questions, interviewed Florence's brother, Irving, and talked to her about whether she regretted leading such a selfish life when she was so privileged.

Recently, I was talking with someone who was young during the Great Depression and she said that nobody could afford to do anything back then. According to her, everybody was affected. While Florence touches on the Wall Street Crash and her father losing everything, it didn't seem to slow her down. Her main regret seems to be the loss of her snakeskin coat in a fire when her childhood home burned down. I'm currently reading Katharine Graham's autobiography and the difference between these women is just night and day. Graham can actually write, for one thing, and draws the reader in, making the characters come to life. Although her mother was quite narcissistic and similar in many ways to Florence, Graham gives her dimension and adds humor. The book is not merely a listing of events.

The Red Leather Diary was found in a dumpster. I'd like to put my copy of the book back there.(less)

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Jun 03, 2008

Didi Wane rated it

· review of another edition

I admire Florence Wolfson and Lily Koppel. I saw them on the Today Show and was so impressed that I had to get the book. Three more chapters to go and I don't want it to end.

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Aug 01, 2009

Crystal marked it as non-fiction-someday · review of another edition

this book illustrates exactly what makes this website spectacular. NEVER would have found it, I imagine.

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Jun 09, 2008

Vicky rated it

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Shelves: couldn-t-finish

I didn't really read this book all the way through. It got to the point were it was mundane and dull.

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Apr 14, 2008

Jeannine rated it

· review of another edition

I read the first few pages and it just didn't click for me. I returned the book.

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Mar 14, 2009

Karin rated it

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Shelves: karin-s-top-shelf

Though I do not typically enjoy non-fiction, the author's occasional recreation of scenes bordered on historical fiction enough to keep me engaged. I felt my life enriched by a glimpse of the social world of a "brilliant and too individual" young woman living in the 1920s/1930s, finding it to be more progressive and exciting in many ways than my "liberated" modern environment.

I also am, admittedly, a sucker for the "lost treasures" of the world, and s...more

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Jun 13, 2008

Anne rated it

· review of another edition

I heard about this book on NPR and was so intrigued that I raced right out to get it. I have to say, I was somewhat disappointed. The subject of the book, Florence Wolfson, is fascinating, and it's irresistable to learn about her life in 1930s NYC and to draw comparisons to one's own life at that same point, when you're young and energetic and a bundle of potential and possibilities. Florence was (is) clearly a gifted writer and thinker. In fact, I really wish she had been the one to give voice...more

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Jan 19, 2009

Daniel rated it

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Shelves: non-fiction, biography

What a wonderful discovery, this diary and this book.

Lily Koppel has done a magnificent job relating the story of Frances Wolfson to the reader, taking the intimate, personal notes of a private journal, and expanding on them through research.

And what a wonderful life, Frances Wolfson lives! The detail and intimacy, shared by a young teen who certainly never expects anyone to invade, is delightful. So many artistic types, male and female, can relate to so much of the ang...more

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May 22, 2008

Sarah rated it

· review of another edition

Recommends it for: coming of age novels, personal diary fans

Recommended to Sarah by: Shanda-book club assignment

Shelves: bookclub-pick

This book struck a few things in me:
She was a girl who really didnt know WHAT she wanted.
In a way I can relate to her, teen angst, falling in and out of love so easily. Yet in a way I feel that she is really a selfish person who treated those around her with careless abandon. At least as an adult I can look back and say "sheesh what a bonehead I was". I learned from my mistakes and tried to figure out who I was and what I wanted out of life.

Her photographs were ...more

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Jan 24, 2009

Kerry rated it

· review of another edition

This book provides a little glimpse into life in New York City in the 1920s/1930s. A long-forgotten, newly discovered red leather diary from Florence Wolfson is the heart of this book. The photos and excerpts from the diary are lovely, but there was more recounted paraphrasing than I expected. The book was still an interesting glimpse into this artistic, fashionable New York teenager, but a little less personal than some diary formats because of this book comes across. However, since I don't...more

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Nov 15, 2008

Renee rated it

· review of another edition

The story of a NY Times writer who finds a diary from the 1920's in an old steamer truck minutes before it is thrown in the garbage. The diary records thoughts and ambitions of 14 year old Florence Wolfson over the next five years. I had no idea that the 1920's were as sexually liberating as they were and I loved learning about NYC during that time. The author is able to find Florence (90 years old and living in Florida) and the friendship they develop is nothing less that beautiful. It is nothi...more

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Mar 02, 2009

Carrie rated it

· review of another edition

This is a great story, but not a great book. What happened was, the author (who was a New York journalist) came home to her upper West side apartment to find that they were clearing out the trunk room and throwing hundreds of vintage trunks away.* Koppel crawls into the dumpster and finds all these crazy vintage items, including a red leather diary. When she opens the diary it tells the story of five years in the life of Florence, a headstrong and creative young woman growing up in 1920’s Man...more

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Jan 12, 2009

Stop added it · review of another edition

Shelves: reviewed

Read the STOP SMILING review of The Red Leather Diary:

Florence Wolfson was a remarkable young lady. From 1929 through 1934, the teenage Manhattan resident recorded the events of her life in the journal from which Lily Koppel’s book takes its name. It’s a nice story: In October 2003, a plucky 22-year-old New York Times news assistant notices some old trunks being cleared out from the basement of her Upper West Side apartment building. Claimed from the detritus is a diary belonging to on...more

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Nov 13, 2010

Elise rated it

· review of another edition

I had been meaning to read "The Red Leather Diary" for awhile. I first encountered Koppel's work when she wrote an article for The New York Times about discovering treasures from years ago on the sidewalk outside her apartment - the image of the little half-sweater, still on its knitting needles, stuck with me. A year or two later, I discovered that Koppel was a Barnard alumna when she came and read at a student/alumnae reading (where I actually also read some of my own work). By this ...more

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Jul 12, 2010

Jude Malta rated it

· review of another edition

This book was nothing like I was expecting. Due to the author's jerky and non existent descriptive techniques, the book came across as a report of historicly accurate scenes loosely based on a young woman's diary. I will admit that the historical research was well done, but Ms. Koppel failed to translate a well written story based on this diary. I will admit I continued to read this book because I was intriqued by this young woman's story, but it was sadly not due to the writing. To my supri...more

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Mar 31, 2010

Nicole rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: own, 2010, book-club

As far as I'm concerned, this was another hit and miss with my work book club. I don't know how they manage to pick the worst, least interesting books out there. So far, the only one they have gotten right was The Book Thief, which was awesome. This one reminded me a lot of another book we had to read, The Film Club. Both are non-fiction and talk about how the life of one person changes over a few years. I guess I don't enjoy non-fiction books, but I totally did not feel connected to this a...more

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About Lily Koppel

Lily Koppel writes for the New York Times and other publications. She lives in New York City."

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Quotes from The Red Leather Diary

“Florence has a passion for books. When she saw the one she was seeking, she would recognize it, as if the volume had belonged to her in a previous life.” — 3 people liked it

“How I love - writing, acting, breathing the atmosphere- and one day I'll have it. If I cannot write, I shall die.” — 1 person liked it

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