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    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
    Unavailable
    The Red Leather Diary: Reclaiming a Life Through the Pages of a Lost Journal
    Ebook318 pages4 hours

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

    By Lily Koppel

    3.5/5

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    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this ebook

    “A world straight from the pages of an F. Scott Fitzgerald novel. . . . An extraordinary story about coming of age, following your dreams and discovering (or rediscovering) who you are, were and want to be.” — Parade

    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

    Opening the tarnished brass lock of a red leather diary found in the basement of a New York City apartment building, New York Times writer Lily Koppel embarked on a journey into the past. Compelled by the hopes and heartaches captured in the pages, Koppel set out to find the diary’s owner, a 90-year old woman named Florence. Eventually reunited with her diary, Florence ventured back to the girl she once was, rediscovering a lost self that burned with artistic fervor.

    Joining intimate interviews with original diary entries, The Red Leather Diary is an evocative and entrancing work that recreates 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.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHarperCollins
    Release dateOct 13, 2009
    ISBN9780061827495
    Unavailable
    The Red Leather Diary: Reclaiming a Life Through the Pages of a Lost Journal

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    Reviews for The Red Leather Diary

    3.5/5

    26 ratings22 reviews

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    • 3/5
      Koppel, the author, finds a diary when her Upper West Side apt dumps trunks from the basement that have been stored there for years. The diary of intelligent, ambitious, and wealthy Florence Wolfson, begins on her 14th birthday. The diary contains only one or two sentences for each day but it is expanded with information from Florence who at 90 was thrilled to relive the passions of her young life. Style is a bit dry, but the text is enhanced with photos.
    • 4/5
      This was a nice read. I loved all the details about 20's-30's Manhattan that make reading the book seem like watching a nice classic film on TCM. Florence Wolfson, whose five-year diary is that of the title, is quite a character - her teenage years are fascinating. The author contacted her through a PI and got to interview her about the diary entries to flesh them out. Very cool.
    • 5/5
      The time period of 1930/40's is very interesting. The diary was explicit and involving!
    • 4/5
      A tattered and tarnished Red Leather Diary...discarded and left in a trunk for years...opened for the first time in decades by a young writer working for the New York TImesAmazement...as the life of a young well-to-do woman in New York in the 1930's unfolds. Horseback riding in Central Park, summer excursions to the Catskills, tea at Schrafft's, and toasting the night at El Morocco. And behind it all a diarist who writes frankly of her explorations--in cities around the world, and with various sexual partners--both male and female.Even more amazing: The journalist tracks down the author of diary, who is now 90 years old and chronicles her reaction as she rediscovers her younger self.Five hours of tennis andglorious happiness--allI want is someone to love--I feel incomplete.-one of Florence's entries from the Red Leather DIaryI found this book intriguing, especially the way Florence's life came to life through such short diary entries. The reaction of our book discussion group was mixed, some of them did not care for Florence at all and so had a hard time getting into the book. But it generated quite a lively discussion!
    • 4/5
      In the 1930's traffic lights in New York City were adorned with bronze statues of Mercury, young girls met their dates under the Biltmore clock and danced at El Morroco. Into this long gone world Florence Wolfson, a precocious 14-year old was given a 5 year line a day diary which she faithfully filled out every day for the next five years. 67 years later the diary is found by a young reporter for the NY Times who becomes intrigued by this young girl from the past.What follows is th story of a remarkable life- an intrepid young woman who bZatles against the conventions of her religion and class and carves out a most remarkable lif for herself. At kltimes exasperating, at times annoying, but never dull, Florence's life if full of Intellectual pursuits and adventure. I wanted to get into a time machine & go back & meet her for drinks or share her European adventures.This is a great book for anyone who enjoys the story of a free spirited woman as well as a vivid picture of a New York that has now varnished.
    • 4/5
      How very Marjorie Morningstar! This is that thing that got a lot of coverage a few years ago, a reporter for the NY Times found an old diary being discarded from an Upper West Side tony apartment building, written by a teenager in the late 20s/early 30s, detailing her life in Manhattan, complete with dances, parties, theater, high school, Hunter College, camp in the Catskills, chasing after boys, chasing after girls. The whole thing is pretty charming, but the real kicker is that the reporter was able to eventually track down the diary's author and share it with her. (I'm not sure if she is still alive now, she was in her 90s at the time this was published.)The whole thing is a terrific picture of that era in New York City, which, especially if you're into that period anyway, is so vivid and engaging, and fans of Margorie Morningstar will recognize ... just about everything. In contrast to MM, issues related to being Jewish during that time only come up in the most oblique ways in the diary.
    • 2/5
      This book made me angry. The book and its author a nothing more than a fraud. My anger originated with the difficulty to figure out how the book had come into being and who the real author is. Authorship is claimed by Lily Koppel. It must be said that her claim to authorship is justified regarding the way the book was produced, but it does not seem entirely fair. Some of my anger also relates to the title: the words "diary" and "journal" are very misleading, suggesting a wealth of original material. However, the original source document is merely a notebook, containing ultra-short messages for each day between 1929 and 1935 (almost like a long-hand version of a Twitter account). Ms Koppel is not the editor of a historical document, no, she has selected and interpreted these short messages and writing a story around them. The story is based on the notes, conversations with the author, whom she tracked down, and library research (+ Lily's musings).The author never tells us how many entries the original notebook contained, and how much of that she used. from the book, we get the impression that the notebook was crammed with notes, but a photographic image of the notebook on the author's website suggests that the notebook was only partially filled.Another problematic issue is the overall scope of the book. The notebooks cover a five-year period, during which the author, Florence Wolfson, was between the ages of 14 and 19. However, the story in the book and reproduced photographs extend into the period after the age of 19, for example Florence's 'grand tour' to Europe at the age of 21! This transition / extension is not clearly marked, and obviously is a much more attractive part of Florence life.The story that is told by the book is interesting, and the investigative work put into it is thorough and well-done. Nonetheless, much of my anger remains, as lingering irritation at the sloppiness of presenting the source and the lack of modesty on the part of the author, pushing herself on the foreground.
    • 5/5
      I loved this - from how the diary was discovered to being able to know (almost) how the story ended for both Florence and her contemporaries. I found it fascinating that as a teen in 1920 she had more freedom almost than my own daughter has now. Her everyday experience was far from what I imagined she would have. I would have expected a girl in the 1920's to be much more purient, respectable, victorian almost.Other reviewers say that they would have prefered more of Florences entries but she was not writing for the expectation of a audience - she had four lines in which to write (pay attention to the description of the diary layout)and she as a teen wrote only her viewpoint and as much as she needed to record not tell. We only have the information that there is becuase Lily found her still alive. That Florence at 90 shared so much truth - not glossing over her affairs or her attitude is suprising and startling. Her life though not one of celebrity is unique. I like the way it was written with both the immediacy of the experience and description enough to explore the times. I have read quite a few biographys (generally avoiding celeb biographies) and often find them either too detached or too self indulgent. For me, though not perfect, it struck a good balance.Ultimately it reminded me of the passions of my own as a teenager , largely unrealised but I am not sure that I have regrets as such. Also a reminder as my newly teen daughter enters the maelstrom of adolescence.
    • 3/5
      Not great, but definitely interesting. It gives you a glimpse of New York City almost a century ago.
    • 2/5
      I was extremely disappointed in this book. This is a book that I have been wanting to read for a long time so I was very excited when it finally came. I love the premise of the book just not the actual book. I was hoping to find out about life in the 1930's in New York City from the perspective of a teenager living in that era, but was sadly disappointed.
    • 1/5
      I was very happy when my mother presented me with this book. A young journalist finding a lost and forgotten diary excited me not only because I am a writer and can find so much to relate too with Koppel and the young lady who kept the diary but also because the period the journal was written in interests me a lot. But within the first 50 pages of this NOVEL, my excitement was replaced with such disappointment. First of all, I did find it hard to believe. This is supposed to be a true story but the events that happened to the young diary keeper and all of the strange coincidences Koppel (who found the journal) had with her seem very unreal. Another huge problem I had with this book was that I went in thinking I was going to read a diary, but in fact its more of a interpretation of the diary written by Koppel. The events written in a diary (by anyone) should be too personal and I think Koppel took her artistic license a little too far. I also have to add, because it was quite tedious, the author seems quite full of herself. I didn't want to read about her, but the diary and the young women keeping it. The writing style was well done though, her use of words flow nice, but her descriptions are either too much or not at all. Sadly, I couldn't even finish this novel because it just made me so angry.
    • 3/5
      I have to say this book disappointed me. I guess I just expected a different story that I got. I thought it was an interesting look at the people of the 1920's and the girl/woman who wrote the diary was very interesting. I think it blew my stereotypes of what women were like in the 1920's. I guess I just thought they were more chaste back in those days... I was wrong. It was amazing how few differences there were from what a teenage girl is like now.It is hard for me to put a finger why I did not like this book, but I just felt like something was missing. There was something that did did not work for me. I thought I would give it 3 stars for interesting material.
    • 3/5
      There is something fascinating about discovering old rtefacts and finding out the romantic story behind them. And the person who wrote this diary was extraordinary but she was also a spoiled privileged girl with that superior attitude of youth that makes it difficult to like her. In a way, a bit like reading old letters or diariesof your own.
    • 3/5
      What fascinated me the most about [The Red Leather Diary] was that this diary that had been plucked out of a New York dumpster was the story of a young girl who lived life to the fullest in 1920's Manhattan, thus giving the potential author, Lily Koppel (already a journalist). a fascinating story of society, people, and places of the time. For Koppel to have realized the gem she had discovered and actually find its author alive to complete the story is also amazing. The endless details of relationships got boring after a while, but what would one expect in an adolescent's diary? I enjoyed the book more for its historical perspective than the teenage angst.
    • 3/5
      If you are interested in stories that come from other people's stuff (which I am) this is a great book. If you are not interested in those things, you'll probably be bored. Still, it is well written for what it is.
    • 5/5
      I was completely taken by the unfolding of this book from the garbage rescue of the diary from the streets of Manhattan to the tracking down of the 90+ year old diary's author. From the age of 14 to 19 (1929 - 1934), Florence Wolfson made an entry in her diary each and every day. The diary captures the essence of a long past time in NY, but a past that I am familiar with from listening to the stories from my father. More importantly, it also captures a teenage girls blossoming sexuality and relationships with herself and others. If you are interested in old NYC, and also interested in exploring the feelings of teens, you'll enjoy the Red Leather Diary.
    • 5/5
      In 2003, journalist Lily Koppel exited her apartment at 98 Riverside Drive in New York and was surprised to see more than fifty trunks and valises from a bygone era piled high in a red dumpster. Intrigued, she climbed up and began excavating. Amid relics from the 1920s and 30s, stored within the confines of a forgotten trunk, was a small red leather diary written by a young girl. This discovery would not only change the course of Koppel’s life, but would open up the long forgotten world of Florence Wolfson - a precocious and passionate young woman who dreamed of a literary life and sought love while growing up in New York City. Born in 1915, Florence Wolfson came of age during Prohibition, the Depression and WWII. She was raised by Jewish immigrant parents who worked their way up to Manhattan’s fashionable neighborhoods. Florence’s voice within the pages of her diary drew Koppel to her. Here was a young girl who was highly intelligent, ahead of her time and driven to live life to its fullest.The Red Leather Diary combines diary entries with narrative developed from interviews Koppel had with ninety year old Florence…who she located with help from a private investigator three years after discovering the diary. The book gives the reader a glimpse into the thoughts and dreams of a privileged girl who excelled in music, art and writing. It is also filled with teenage passion and drama as Florence discovers love with both boys and girls. Florence Wolfson started a literary salon (a novel idea) in 1934 which included famous poets John Berryman and Delmore Schwartz; and she traveled alone to Europe in 1936, on the cusp of WWII. Koppel captures the life of this enigmatic and strongly independent young woman perfectly.But the book is not just about Florence - it is also about its author who arrived in New York City at the age of 22 seeking to make her own mark in the world. In an interview at the end of the book, Lily Koppel writes:When I moved to New York, like every young person drawn to the big city, my quest echoed Florence’s: I was seeking love, meaning in my life, and, as a writer, a story.Koppel’s discovery inflamed her imagination. When she finally was able to meet Florence Wolfson face to face, an immediate friendship formed - a unique connection between a young woman at the beginning of her life and an older woman looking back on her youth.How do you feel when a forgotten chunk of your life, full of adolescent angst and passion, is handed to you? How do you feel when you see your striving, feeling, immature self through your now elderly eyes? It stopped my heart for a moment. That was me? - written by Florence (Wolfson) Howitt, September 3, 2007 -I read straight through The Red Leather Diary, finding myself immersed in a time long gone through the words of a girl who wanted to live in the center of it all. Koppel has written a marvelous book that tugs at the reader’s imagination.Highly recommended.
    • 4/5
      Have you ever peered into someone else's diary? Even if it's not the most riveting life, there's something about looking at someone's private writing that is reallly intriguing. Lily Koppel had an opportunity to do this, and what's more, not only was it over 70 years old, but its writer was stll alive - so she was able to get the inside story behind the entries of a teenager of the 1930's. Thankfully for this up and coming journalist, Florence Wolfson's life was interesting enough and racy enough to develop a whole book around it. Though at times I felt the author was hoping to develop this story into a movie version, it was a good enough story to keep me reading. Personally, I didn't need the whole anything goes relationship focus of the book, but there's a market I'm sure. On the artistic side, it's true you rarely see such an attitude around real-life teenagers anymore, so it was somewhat refreshing.I love reading about New York at any time in the past, so I was drawn to the book when I heard of it straightaway. Though it's not my top favorite diary-based book of all time (I'm a Pepys girl myself), it was satisfying where it needed to be, and I'm glad to have found it in the library sale.
    • 3/5
      In 2003, a young journalist for the New York Times named Lily Koppel discovers the diary of Florence Wolfson, age 14, in a discarded steamer trunk on the Upper West Side. Investigation leads her to find out that Florence is still living. Upon visiting the 90-year-old, Florence tells Lily her story, of growing up in New York in the 192os and ‘30s. Florence grew up in an affluent Jewish family, and kept the diary for five years, from age 14 to 19. She was an active writer and artist. Florence attended a private girls’ school and then Hunter College (then all women and now co-ed and part of the CUNY system), where she was active in the college literary magazine. Along the way she experimented with same-sex relationships and agonized over the behavior of boys, eventually marrying a childhood friend.It seems like your typical coming-of-age story, except for the fact that Florence’s is very much of the place and era she grew up in. Little facts about New York City are revealed: for example, for thirty years, there were little statues of Mercury mounted on top of all the stoplights in the city. That was one of the biggest draws of this book. Florence had a pretty average New York City childhood, all things considered; and adding in those little bits of arcane trivia really spiced things up for me.There were a couple of problems I had with this book: first, Koppel spends an inordinate amount of time bragging about her accomplishments. The story is ultimately Florence’s, and Lily talking about, say, a story she did once detracts from that. Koppel’s prose seemed a little bit purpled and hackneyed; she also tries to make generalizations about the New York of today that ultimately don’t ring true. All New Yorkers have a certain fondness for the city, but pretty much everything you can say about New York has already been said. Also, I thought the book would have been better if Florence had actually written it herself. She’s a writer, so why not?
    • 3/5
      The story of how this book came to be is almost better than the book itself. Lilly Koppel, a twenty-something writer for the New York Times found a red leather diary in an old steamer trunk in front of her building one afternoon. Having decided it was time to finally clear out the basement, the building management put a bunch of trunks and other items out at the curb to be thrown away. Many of the items had been languishing in the basement for over 70 years. Seeing this mountain of old trunks, Lily's curiosity got the better of her, and she literally went dumpster diving. She came away with the diary, a vintage coat, a telegram and a few other odds and ends. As soon as she opened the diary and began reading, she was hooked. Lily read the diary and was fascinated by the young Florence Wolfson who had written the diary from 1929 to 1934. Florence had written an entry in the diary every day for five years from the ages of 14 to 19. Once again her curiosity wouldn't let her rest, and Lilly began to do some research on some of the people and places in the diary. Through a chance meeting, she teamed up with a private investigator who later found Florence Wolfson Howitt. Lilly contacted and met Florence who is now in her 90s and splits her time between Connecticut and Florida. Florence is thrilled to have her diary back and loves reading about the young girl she once was.Lilly begins visiting Florence on a regular basis and develops a friendship with Florence. She also interviews many of Florence's family and friends, as well. With Florence's permission and the help of the interviews, Lilly turns the diary into the book, The Red Leather Diary: Reclaiming a Life Through the Pages of a Lost Journal. It would be an understatement of monumental proportion to say that this book is interesting. I was amazed at how 'modern' Florence was as a teen in the early 30s. She lived life to the fullest. She wanted to experience everything that life had to offer. She loved writing, drawing, painting and photography. She was also very emotional and enjoyed multiple relationships with both men and women. At times, Florence seems fearless, and at other times she seems like a frightened little girl. In many ways, Florence was ahead of her time, and she felt that she didn't really fit in anywhere.As I said earlier, I love the premise behind this book. I love the way the project began. I loved reading about Florence and New York of the early 1930s. I loved discovering this unique woman who flouted convention and didn't want to marry a man and settle down simply because that's what society said she should do. My one complaint about the book is the fact that the writing sometimes felt disjointed. Koppel used the diary entries and filled in with background information she received from Florence and others. This led to choppiness and a writing style that didn't really flow that well sometimes. However, this is just a small quibble. This is a fascinating look into a time that has long since been lost. My only regret is that Florence didn't become a writer herself.
    • 4/5
      Fascinating non-fiction in which Koppel finds the titular diary and its owner (now in her nineties) and recontrsucts the times in which the diary was written - the late '20s and early '30s.
    • 4/5
      Marvellous book to read and to pass on to others with dreams. Lily Koppel was able through her writing to keep the innocence of the diary written by Florence Wolfson. A true story