The Red Leather Diary

Critics

• Time of Her Life

  Can we talk about the Upper West Side for a second? I know, I know, it’s just not the same these days. The comfy habitat of liberal Manhattan intelligentsia has been dismantled: the hedge funders have colonized the classic sixes, every other storefro ... (read full critics)

  nytimes published on Sat, 18 Sep 2010

• The Red Leather Diary By Lily Koppel

  From 1929 to 1934, Florence Wolfson faithfully recorded the details of her life in a diary she received on her 14th birthday - and what a life it was. A precocious, exquisitely attired Manhattanite with an artistic bent, Florence took advantage of ev ... (read full critics)

  bookpage published on Thu, 16 Sep 2010

1 Review

• New Interview From The Entertainment Critic: Lily Koppel on The Red Leather Diary

  NEW INTERVIEW FROM THE ENTERTAINMENT CRITIC: LILY KOPPEL, AUTHOR OF THE RED LEATHER DIARY

  Please check out the new interview by James Myers, The Entertainment Critic, of Author Lily Koppel, About Her Completely Unique, Top Selling Book, The Red Leather Diary.

  From The Publisher: “Resc ... (continue)

  NEW INTERVIEW FROM THE ENTERTAINMENT CRITIC: LILY KOPPEL, AUTHOR OF THE RED LEATHER DIARY

  Please check out the new interview by James Myers, The Entertainment Critic, of Author Lily Koppel, About Her Completely Unique, Top Selling Book, The Red Leather Diary.

  From The Publisher: “Rescued from a Dumpster on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, a discarded diary brings to life the glamorous, forgotten world of an extraordinary young woman.

  For more than half a century, the red leather diary lay silent, languishing inside a steamer trunk, its worn cover crumbling into little flakes. When a cleaning sweep of a New York City apartment building brings this lost treasure to light, both the diary and its owner are given a second life.

  Recovered by Lily Koppel, a young writer working at the New York Times, the journal paints a vivid picture of 1930s New York–horseback riding in Central Park, summer excursions to the Catskills, and an obsession with a famous avant-garde actress. From 1929 to 1934, not a single day's entry is skipped.

  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. As she turns the diary's brittle pages, Koppel is captivated by the headstrong young woman whose intimate thoughts and emotions fill the pale blue lines. Who was this lovely ingénue who adored the works of Baudelaire and Jane Austen, who was sexually curious beyond her years, who traveled to Rome, Paris, and London?

  Compelled by the hopes and heartaches captured in the pages, Koppel sets out to find the diary's owner, her only clue the inscription on the frontispiece–"This book belongs to . . . Florence Wolfson." 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. Reunited with her diary, Florence ventures back to the girl she once was, rediscovering a lost self that burned with artistic fervor.

  Joining intimate interviews with original diary entries, Koppel reveals the world of a New York teenager obsessed with the state of her soul and her appearance, and muses on the serendipitous chain of events that returned the lost journal to its owner. Evocative and entrancing, The Red Leather Diary re-creates the romance and glitter, sophistication and promise, of 1930s New York, bringing to life the true story of a precocious young woman who dared to follow her dreams.”

  This interview is available exclusively on The Entertainment Critic Magazine, found at http://www.theentertainmentcriticmagazine.com.
  To listen to the interview: To access the interview, look under the Interview section. Click on the wavy lines in the top right hand corner to stop the music, and then click on the MP3 player in the lower left corner. You'll see the interview listed, click on Lily’s name in the player, the interview will take a moment to download and then will begin playing Enjoy the interview, and please drop us a line at james@theentertainmentcriticmagazine.com and let us know how you liked the interview and if there is anything we can do to improve our process.

  The Red Leather Diary Website: http://www.redleatherdiary.com/

  You Tube Book Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rc6IV93DpMw

  The Red Leather Diary on MySpace: http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.vi…

  The Red Leather Diary on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=15777600230

  The Red Leather Diary in The Huffington Post: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/lily-koppel/

  Lily’s NY Times column on The Red Leather Diary: http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/16/nyregion/thecity/16di… (check out the cool interactive multimedia section in this article)

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  Jamesmyerstheentertainmentcritic said on Jun 24, 2008 | Add your feedback

Book Details

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• English Books
• Hardcover 336 Pages
• ISBN-10: 0061256773
• ISBN-13: 9780061256776
• Publisher: Harper
• Pub date: Apr 01, 2008
• Dimensions: 1355 mm x 839 mm x 258 mm Just how big is that?
• Also available as: Others

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