Author Interview - Lily Koppel
The Red Leather Diary

Synopsis:

Lily Koppel, a young Barnard graduate and celebrity reporter for the New York Times, passes by a dumpster filled with relics from New York City's rapidly fading past. One of the treasures Koppel discovers is a curious, red leather diary.

Opening the tarnished brass lock, Koppel embarks on a journey into the past, traveling to a New York in which women of privilege meet for tea at Schrafft's, dance at the Hotel Pennsylvania, and toast the night at El Morocco. Koppel is captivated by the headstrong young woman whose intimate thoughts and emotions fill the pale blue lines. Who was this lonely ingenue who adored the works of Baudelaire and Jane Austen, who was sexually curious beyond her years, who traveled to Paris, London, and Rome, where she had a romance with an Italian count?

A chance phone call from a private investigator leads Koppel to Florence, a ninety-year old woman living with her husband of sixty-seven years in Florida. Reunited with her diary, Florence journeys back to the girl she once was, rediscovering a lost self that had burned with artistic fervor.

Reviews:

From the New York Times Book Review:

A window into an extraordinary life. With her skillful reporting, fine prose and excellent eye for period detail, Koppel has given it a lovely shine, especially since she miraculously managed to track down and befriend—Wolfson, who is now in her 90s…A story about not one but two lovable characters—and the city that brought them together.

From Parade:

A world straight from the pages of an F. Scott Fitzgerald novel…The Red Leather Diary is Koppel’s tribute to both the tempestuous girl she came to know on paper and the older, more even-tempered woman she grew to love in real life. It’s an extraordinary story about coming of age, following your dreams and discovering (or rediscovering) who you are, were and want to be.

From Booklist:

In 2003, Koppel, a novice writer for the New York Times, stumbled upon an amazing discovery: the decades-old diary of a privileged teenaged Manhattanite penned between 1929 and 1934. Fascinated by entries detailing theater expeditions, shopping sprees, love interests, and grand ambitions, she put her journalistic skills to good use, tracking down the original owner of this faded and cracked red-leather treasure. Elated to discover 90-year-old Florence Wolfson alive, alert, and eager to share her memories of a bygone time and place, Koppel began interviewing Florence, interweaving the brief diary entries with more detailed personal anecdotes infused with the type of glamour and sophistication associated with a 1930s romantic comedy. After a front-page story appeared in the New York Times Sunday City section, interest in Florence’s fascinating story prompted the author to write a full-length book that works as both a biography and a spellbinding glimpse into a vanished era.

--Margaret Flanagan

Author Interview:

Q: "Lily, I have to ask, because I have an irrational fear of dumpsters. What gave you the courage to climb in and discover the diary that became the inspiration for your article in the New York Times and this subsequent book project?

A: Curious by nature, I’ve never been able to resist adventure and have also been curious about the stories people and especially old objects have to tell. So, when I stepped outside of my Manhattan apartment building and discovered a rusted red dumpster brimming with old steamer trunks that had once traveled on ocean liners, I felt as if I had found a message in a bottle. Ballet flats on my toes, I climbed and like Alice tumbled down the rabbit hole into a glamorous forgotten world."

For complete interview and additional links, please go to EMERGE - New Authors: http://jenniferprado.blogspot.com