Don’t Forget to Write is a witty, funny, wry, poignant coming-of-age story with marvelous characters and a bittersweet ending. When the protagonist, Marilyn Kleinman, is caught making out with the rabbi’s son in a conservative synagogue in New York City—then refuses to marry him to save her reputation—she’s exiled to her great-aunt Ada’s in Philadelphia. Her aunt is an unmarried matchmaker who’s amassed a fortune and lives her life on her own terms. Here, Marilyn discovers freedom—she can finally envision a world in which she can become an author, not necessarily a wife and mother. As a woman who grew up in the 1960’s, in which the novel is set, I fully identified with Marilyn’s attempts to spread her wings outside of the role her family and society expect of her, though I was trapped in West Texas.
The dialogue is funny with some great repartee between Marilyn and Ada as the two develop a truly loving relationship. Marilyn comes to appreciate her mother’s role as wife and mother even as she wrote her first novel. The characters are vibrant and alive and completely enchanting.
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Don’t Forget to Write (Lake Union Publishing, September 1, 2023) is available through:
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