21 Aldgate: Jewish Chronicle Features "21 Aldgate"

Thursday, December 30, 2010

Jewish Chronicle Features "21 Aldgate"

The Jewish Chronicle Online this week featured author Patricia Friedberg and her novel, "21 Aldgate."

Writer Candice Kreiger wrote that, "Anyone with a tie to London's East End is likely to enjoy Patricia Friedberg's latest novel."

"The book came about because of the people I have known," Pat told the Jewish Chronicle, which is distributed in England. "I have written for a long time and this story has always come back to me."

"My grandparents used to live in the East End and I used to go there. Any person who lived in that century - from the early 1900s to 2000 - went through so much," she told the publication. "They were very special people and the book is written with them in mind."

To read the full story, click here.

1 comment:

MaryAnnJanuary 7, 2011 at 1:37 PM
Tune in to Radio Rabbi Live at 9 a.m. on WGUL am; Sunday, January 23rd, 2010, when Patricia Friedberg will discuss her novel "21 ALDGATE" with host Rabbi Barbara Aiello. The program will be podcast and streamed onto our blog.
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About the Author Patricia Friedberg

British-born author Patricia Friedberg grew up in London during World War II. She attended the Henrietta Barnett School and later the London School of Journalism. Soon after her marriage, the Friedbergs left England to live for many years in South Africa and in the Rhodesias - now Zambia and Zimbabwe - where Dr. Friedberg practiced medicine and where she was a journalist and writer of documentaries for the Rhodesian Newspapers and Rhodesian Television.

Due to civil unrest and for the safety of their children, the family came to America, where Mrs. Friedberg attended university and wrote columns for community and organizational papers, and hosted a television talk show, '"People of the Book," for the NBC affiliate in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

In addition to her talent as a writer and journalist, Mrs. Friedberg has composed music for theatre, written prose for a ballet and has travelled extensively with her husband, a professor of cardiology who lectured around the world.

She has co-authored with her daughter, Adrienne, two illustrated children’s books, Dear Sammie, A Letter to a child of Divorcing parents, and Dear Jake.

She is the mother of four children, each born in a different country, grandmother of eight, and now has three great-grandsons.

Synopsis

When young Clara Simon suddenly quit her steady job in Ernest Maxwell Abbott's law firm over his increasingly shabby treatment of Jewish clients, she soon realized the seriousness of her actions. Giving up any job in struggling, post-WWI London meant taking a chance.

Clara knew her family at 21 Aldgate would not be supportive. With that in mind she did the only thing a Londoner could do: she looked for a quiet place to have a cup of tea and think over her hasty decision. A coincidental meeting with a former Abbott employee resulted in the suggestion of a job offer in Chelsea.

Clara, reluctant to consider venturing into affluent Chelsea, finally agreed to meet with the important French artist, Paul Maze, who needed an assistant to help write his memoir of his work as a field artist during the First World War. Their working relationship ignited a passionate love that forever changed and haunted her.

On the tides of political and social chaos prior to the Second World War, Clara was forced to make decisions that risked both her life and her marriage.