The Queens of Montague Street

by Nancy Rommelmann

Journalist Nancy Rommelmann's memoir of growing up in Brooklyn Heights in the 1970s, and excerpted in the New York Times Magazine as the essay, "Dazed and Confused."

25 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 2, 2012

About the author

Nancy Rommelmann's latest books are FORTY BUCKS AND A DREAM: STORIES FROM LOS ANGELES and TO THE BRIDGE, a work of nonfiction about Amanda Stott-Smith, who dropped her two young children from a Portland bridge.

She writes the Substack MAKE MORE PIE and, with Sarah Hepola, cohosts the podcast SMOKE 'EM IF YOU GOT 'EM.

Rommelmann writes for The Atlantic, the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, and Real Clear Investigations, among other publications.

Rommelmann lives in New York City

Reviews

[David Cerruti · Rating 4 out of 5]

This captivating essay is part memoir (late 1970’s) and part cautionary tale (timeless). If you know Brooklyn Heights, you will recognize the locations. Montague Street is mentioned so often that I started hearing “Tangled up in Blue” in my head.

It is available on Kindle for 99 cents. It will be included in a collection titled 40 Bucks and a Dream, due out this year. If this is the appetizer, I’m ready for the main course.

[mark propp · Rating 4 out of 5]

i 'know' nancy rommelmann mostly through her association with the great fifth column podcast & now her own excellent show 'smoke 'em if you got 'em.'

weird thing in how you can feel like you know someone when you don't really know them in any real meaningful way. but i know more about nancy's life than i do about anyone i work with, or even people that i know in the real world outside of work. i know what her daughter does, i know about her life in portland & how it was upended because of things she'd said in the wake of me-too, i've seen shots of her home in new york. i've heard her get drunk & pass out on the 5th column.

all very voyeuristic, i guess. it's almost like having a real friend.

i really enjoyed this essay. it's nothing major or revelatory, but it's very readable and enjoyable.

[David Highton · Rating 5 out of 5]

A memoir of teenage wild behaviour of this author

[Gabrielle · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was one part of what will be a collection of essays. I really, really enjoyed reading this, and I look forward to reading more from this author!