A story of class distinction, a people and their traditions, a family and its fate, a country and its fight against fascism, and a woman with a secret she must take to the grave.
Monday, December 12, 2011
Saturday, December 3, 2011
Guest Speaker, Patricia Friedberg addresses Women of Sinai

To an audience of 120 at the Membership Luncheon,
Temple Sinai, Sarasota Florida, Guest speaker, British Author,
Patricia Friedberg, in a dramatic and heartfelt presentation, shared both the political history of England and personal history during the build up to World War II and the austerity in its aftermath.
Her talk was received with overwhelming enthusiasm by the Women of Sinai. The WOS are important members of the community whose purpose is to represent those values that make proud the Jewish heritage of social justice, caring, community, commitment to Tikkun Olam/making the world a better place.
Special Thanks to Harriet Kaufman, Maxine Goodheim, Joanne Trachtenberg and Bunny Tabatznik
Saturday, November 19, 2011
Eva Monley, Hollywood's Expert on Africa, Dies at 88
Author Meets Booker Middle School Students at the "Dragonfly Cafe"

It was my privilege yesterday to discuss ‘21 Aldgate’ with the creative writing class at Booker Middle School, Sarasota, Florida.
Ms. Joanne Fox, teaches her class in what could be easily be the setting
for Charles Dickens, ‘Old Curiosity Shop’. Odd chairs, round, square and oblong tables, sentences scrawled on walls, bright colours and well used books everywhere. Nothing fits the décor of an ordinary school room which is why imagination holds no bounds and poetry and paragraphs flow from the pens of determined young writers.
What a joy to witness students in a setting where their imagination, their creativity and their pride of being a Booker Student is obvious. Ironic that this is where George W Bush was first told of the attack of the Twin Towers. The young people I met will live their lives, not destroying, but building on the positive through their creativity.
Thank you Booker for giving me an insight to an outstanding program.
Sincerely,
Patricia Friedberg
Dear Patricia,
We so enjoyed your visit. The girls are now lining up to read 21Aldgate. One of them commented that I always tell them they are living the book they will one day write and now they can see how that is true. Surely, Pat, you did not realize at the time that it was your day to day existence that would become your book. What a gift of realization was given and received because of your visit. Your letter meant so much to my girls. (Just a clarification, President Bush was down the way at Emma E. Booker Elementary School on 9-11, but the sentiment is lovely.)
Our best to you,
Joanna Fox
Tuesday, November 15, 2011
Thursday, November 10, 2011
Thursday, October 20, 2011
Friday, October 14, 2011
TBS CAMPUS - WEDNESDAY October 19th at 12:30 PM
at the IDELSON LIBRARY in the GOLDIE FELDMAN AUDITORIUM
1050 South Tuttle Avenue
Sarasota, Florida
Friday, September 23, 2011
A "WITTY" IDEA
Framingham, Massachusetts
Book clubs (wherever in the English speaking world) are invited to organize their book clubs VIRTUAL BOOK TALK / MEET THE AUTHOR of 21 ALDGATE, Patricia Friedberg via SKYPE.
Thursday, September 22, 2011
New Posts and Book Reviews
BOOK and FILM GEL
www.golondontours.com/.../Books_%26_Film_GEL.html - click on : Cached
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21 Aldgate / Patricia Friedberg - 2010. Some walking tours focus on the literary associations of the area .... 'Spitalfields - In Words' and 'The Jewish East End ...
On the Bookshelf - by Josh Lambert - Tablet Magazine - A New ...
www.tabletmag.com/arts-and-culture/books/.../on-the-bookshelf-67/ - Cached
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Dec 13, 2010 – 21 Aldgate by Patricia Friedberg should be added to this list
No.69 BARBICAN LIBRARY Aug/Sept 2011
217.154.230.218/NR/rdonlyres/BAEF148B-4593.../0/WhatsNew62.pdf
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File Format: PDF/Adobe Acrobat - Quick View
21 Aldgate by Patricia Friedberg is set in London just prior to WW2 and is the story of the experiences of one Jewish family living in the East End during the ...
Sunday, September 11, 2011
Friday, September 9, 2011
Thursday, September 8, 2011


21 ALDGATE meets
Queen Mary 2
Book talk in the Winter Garden Room on board the QM2

Sunday, August 28, 2011
Wednesday, August 24, 2011
Friday, August 12, 2011
Thank you to all who came to my talks. The interest shown has at
times been overwhelming.
Though London, my home town, has had it's troubles this past week,
it is only a few undesirables intent on making one of the greatest
cities in the world, the object of their criminality. I have travelled
the length and breadth of my homeland - I have met with the young
who want to know how their families fared during World War Two
and conversed with those who lived through it.
I closed each of my talks with a dedication in admiration
of all law abiding Londoners whether it be during the blitz and the
aftermath of that dreadful time or now during the recent riots.
21 Aldgate tells of that spirit - and that spirit cannot and will not
be crushed.
Friday, August 5, 2011
Dartmouth House Talk for the ESU (English Speaking Union) reveals another side of 21 ALDGATE... the relationship between the French artist Paul Maze and Winston Churchill.

It is easy to visualize Churchill meeting Maze in one of the beautifully wood

Aptly housed in The Churchill Room at Dartmouth House, Patricia Friedberg spoke of Sir Winston Churchill who was Chairman of the ESU from 1921-25 and life-long member; Churchill's portrait peering over the marble staircase, a reminder of his omnipresence.
Wednesday, August 3, 2011
Listen to Author's London Jewish Care Interview
Tuesday, August 2, 2011
Radio Interview with Author, Patricia Friedberg and former BBC presentor, Jon Kaye for the talking News & Book, K.C. Shasha Centre, London, UK
Tuesday, July 26, 2011

UPCOMING EVENT THURSDAY, AUGUST 4th
AN EVENING TALK
Dartmouth House, Mayfair
PATRICIA FRIEDBERG'S, 21 ALDGATE
Commences at 6:45 for wine and nibbles followed by 7:00 P.M. Talk
TICKETS £8 MEMBERS , £9 ALUMNI, £10 Guests
Books will be available for sale and a book signing will follow the talk.
Monday, July 25, 2011
Many who haven't read "21 ALDGATE" here in England are now wanting to purchase the book. Hopefully it will soon be available in a softcover second edition. Many who have read the book are passing their enthusiasm on to others.
At the talks the constant question is: "When will the film be released?" and then, "Who will play Clara? and Paul Maze?" and always because the writing makes it so visual, the comment ... "21 ALDGATE will make a great film!"
Patricia has spoken to welcoming AJR groups in Ealing, Brighton and Radlett and will be speaking at the Community Centre in Clevedon Road in West Hampstead on Tuesday, July 26th at 10:30 a.m.
The author was an invited speaker at RISHON in Edgeware to an audience fascinated by the story in which one of the characters is an MS victim. RISHON is a charitable organization dedicated to the interest of sufferers of MS.
Patricia has also addressed Ladies Societies in Cockfosters and N. Southgate and "Book Lovers" in Yorkshire organized by Mick and Ann Blunt.
Jon Kaye, formerly BBC presenter and Head of Talking News & Books will be interviewing the author on radio on August 1st. Watch for the Podcast posting.
Audio version recorded by Rita Rosenbaum is available at KC Shasha Centre for Talking News & Books. Tel: 0208 922 2332
21 ALDGATE is also available on www.amazon.co.uk. www.amazon.com, kindle, Nook, ipad, e-book, Barnes & Noble, WHSmith.co.uk,
Upcoming AUGUST 4th event at Dartmouth House, Charles Street, Mayfair, London.
Be sure to send in your registration form ASAP. (see previous posting - July)
Wednesday, July 13, 2011
Sunday, July 3, 2011
JULY TALKS and EVENTS in the U.K.
Southern Regional Outreach of the AJR
· EALING, TUESDAY, July 5th - 2:00PM 15 Grange Rd., Ealing, London, W5 5QN
· BRIGHTON, MONDAY, July 18th - 12:30 PM Ralli Hall Community Center, Denmark Villas at Hove, East Sussex, BN3 3TH
· RADLETT, WEDNESDAY, July 20th - 10:30 AM, 118 Watling Rd., Radlett, Herts WD7 7AA
Community Groups and Organizations:
· COCKFOSTERS & N. SOUTHGATE, THURSDAY, July 14th – 8:30 PM, Old Farm Rd., Southgate, London N14 5 QR
· EAST END , JEECS, Interview “The Cable” Fall Issue – 11:00 am
· RISCHON, SUNDAY, July 17th – 3:00PM, 118 Edgeware Rd, Edgeware, London
· WEST HAMPSTEAD, TUESDAY, July 26th – 10:30 AM, Cleve Rd., NW6, 3RL
QUEEN MARY 2 Scheduled Talk onboard the TransAtlantic crossing in September
Monday, June 20, 2011
Check Out 21 Aldgate on Facebook
Friday, June 17, 2011
21 Aldgate talk well received. One listener stood up at the
end of the talk - "If women ruled the world. there
would be no wars" after seeing side by side photos of Clara's
brother in Mesopotamia and her great grandson Max in
Iraq close to one hundred years later.
Saturday, June 11, 2011
Sunday, June 5, 2011
Saturday, June 4, 2011
Jewish Book World...
"The vicissitudes of World War II
are splendidly delineated in
this intriguing novel."
War II British history, 21 Aldgate follows
the Simon family through tenuous times that
forever forged and separated families. The story
begins when Clara Simon can no longer tolerate
her boss’s virulent anti-Semitism. She quits
her job and by chance winds up a week later
employed by the famous artist Paul Maze,
friend to Winston Churchill and other European
diplomats. Clara’s life irrevocably changes
as she begins to help Paul Maze write his painful
World War I memoir. Now Hitler’s ascendancy
threatens world peace anew, but Britain’s elite
think he’s a joke and don’t believe the rumors
spreading about concentration camps and the
disappearance of Jews, including Clara’s Aunt.
Paul and Clara travel to France to help
remember parts of Paul’s experiences as a field
artist for England and France and later to Germany
on a secret mission where Clara seeks to find her
Aunt. Both Clara and Paul experience firsthand
the fear felt by German Jews and protestors
at the hands of the secret police and Hitler’s
new soldiers. Paul and Clara then fall in love, a
relationship doomed to fail via their different
worlds. It is Clara who finally settles into a
deeper appreciation of what it means to be a
Jewish wife, mother, and citizen, a role that
strengthens her and her family through
the difficult days of bombing that lie ahead for
England. The fascination of this novel lies not
only in Clara’s ups and downs throughout this
process but the reactions and responses of her
family, representing the varied points of view
and adjustment or lack thereof amid England’s
besieged Jewish and secular community. The
vicissitudes of World War II are splendidly
delineated in this intriguing novel. DS
www.jewishbookcouncil.org
Thursday, June 2, 2011
Monday, May 23, 2011
Tickets Available for Author's Talk at English-Speaking Union
Sunday, May 22, 2011
- SPRINGFIELD, MA - THURSDAY, June 16th, 10:30 AM JCC, 1160 Dickenson, Springfield, Massachusetts, 01108
- East Long Meadow Book Club. (Date and location hto be arranged)
- JEECS - Jewish East End Commemorative Society Interview with Editor of the periodical "THE CABLE". London. Feature article about "21 Aldgate" to appear in the Fall issue of"THE CABLE".
JULY Talks in the UK for the Southern Regional Outreach of the ASSOCIATION OF REFUGEES:
- EALING, TUESDAY, July 5th - 2:00PM 15 Grange Rd., Ealing, London, W5 5QN
- BRIGHTON, MONDAY, July 18th - 12:30 PM Ralli Hall Community Center, Denmark Villas at Hove, East Sussex, BN3 3TH
- RADLETT , WEDNESDAY, July 20th - 10:30 AM, 118 Watling Rd., Radlett, Herts WD7 7AA
Community Groups and Organizations:
- COCKFOSTERS, WEDNESDAY, JULY 13th Old Farm Ave.,Southgate, London N14 5 QR
- RISCHON ORGANIZATION, SUNDAY, July 17th - 3:00PM Edgeware, London
- ENGLISH SPEAKING UNION, (ESU) THURSDAY, August 4th - 6:30 PM, Dartmouth House, 37 Charles Street, Mayfair, London W1J 5ED
If you find yourself in London on any of these dates. Please come!!!
Monday, May 9, 2011
Read all about it..........Read all about it...
Friday, April 8, 2011
Wednesday, April 6, 2011
Reviews
Executive Director, Kathie Bernstein, Milwaukee Jewish Museum
“We were delighted to host Patricia Friedberg for a book talk at our Museum. I had read the book and thought it was wonderful. However, the book became even more meaningful during Ms. Friedberg’s power point presentation of family photos, street scenes and other materials. We heartily recommend the book and Ms. Friedberg. It was a terrific program!”
A feature film titled “21 ALDGATE” based on the novel is in development by Progress Pictures, Ltd. in the UK.
21 ALDGATE, by Patricia Friedberg, Rainbow Books, Inc, Florida, USA. 2010
Available in the US on www.amazon.com, Kindle, Nook and e-books, Barnes and Noble, Davis-Kidd Bookseller, Memphis, Tennessee, Bookstore1, Sarasota, Florida
Available in the UK on www,amazon.co.uk, Kindle, Nook and e-books.
Tuesday, March 29, 2011
“Patricia Friedberg’s 21 Aldgate has been a very popular pick with our area book clubs. Combining all the best elements of historical fiction with an illicit affair make it the must-read novel of early 2011.”
Ashley Dacus, Manager, DAVIS-KIDD BOOKSELLERS, Memphis, TN.
“In 21 Aldgate Patricia Friedberg –a wonderfully compelling writer—brings the reader into a pre-war and WWII London that had been unknown to many of us Americans, certainly to me. She gives a clear picture of the hardships German bombings brought to London’s citizens while telling the story of a strong young woman and her resilient family. We follow the main character, Clara, through her love affair with a famous artist and through her adventures as a spy during the war. But the hero(s) of the book are the British people and the bravery with which they faced the threat of an enemy near at hand. This one is well worth reading.”
Georgia Court
Bookstore1SarasotaTuesday, March 22, 2011
Praise for 21 Aldgate
“I read it with the greatest interest…a fascinating and absorbing look into the past.”
London Jewish Chronicle. Candice Kreiger, journalist for the London Jewish Chronicle
"Author, Author" Editor Rosemary Nelms of The Commercial Appeal in Memphis, Tenn.
Monday, March 21, 2011
Tuesday, March 8, 2011
One of the great artists of his generation, he was often called the last of the impressionists. He was born into an artistic circle in Le Havre in 1887 where family friends included Renior, Monet, Dufy and Pissaro, from whom the young Maze learned the rudiments of painting. His father, a tea merchant, sent him to school in Southampton and there he started his love affair with things English. It was when he saw the Scots Greys at Le Havre in 1914 that he signed up straight away as an interpreter but his pencil and paper was never far from his bayonet. This lead to him meeting with the young Winston Churchill, and the establishment of a life long friendship during which he was to be Winston's artistic mentor. Winston wrote of him from Chartwell shortly, before the second war, "He is an artist of distinction whose keen eye and nimble pencil record impression with the revealing fidelity". As a British private said, "Your pictures are done in shorthand". It was this immediacy which gave him the facility to record the events of his life, wherever and whatever they were. Whilst in Paris he became firm friends with both Segonzac and Vuillard. It was a meeting with Vuillard in 1932 which was pivotal in his development as a painter. He suggested the use of pastels would record the freshness so evident in his work. He took Maze to his own pastel merchant, Dr Roche, who had found a new formula for chalks and had achieved a colour selection of 1,600 shades. Maze later described this visit as being 'taken by God to meet God'.
Tuesday, March 1, 2011
Sarasota Book Blog: Reading 21 Aldgate
Wednesday, February 23, 2011
Monday, February 21, 2011
March Book Talks and Events
Tuesday, March 1st – 7:15 PM
KOBERNICK HOUSE
1951 N. Honore Ave.
Sarasota, FL 34235-9130
(941) 377-0781
Saturday March 12th , 10:00 AM
FOUR SEASONS Hotel, Chicago, Il
College of American Pathologists
Monday, March 14th 1:00 PM
MILWAUKEE JEWISH MUSEUM
1380 N. Prospect Ave,
Milwaukee, WI
Tuesday, March 15th, 7:00 PM
Goodman Community Center
149 Waubesa St.
Madison, WI 53704
(608) 241-1574 ext 225
www.goodmancenter.org
Tuesday, February 15, 2011
Memphis book talks
Patricia Friedberg
Friday, February 11, 2011
The Cable Street Riot of 1936
Sunday, February 6, 2011
Patricia Friedberg at Davis-Kidd with '21 Aldgate'

In writing "21 Aldgate" (Rainbow Books, $27.95), Friedberg has drawn on her own and her family's experiences in London in the period leading up to and during World War II. The climax of "The King's Speech" is Britain's declaration of war on Germany on Sept. 3, 1939, and that event occurs about three quarters of the way through Friedberg's novel. Like the movie, the book features Winston Churchill in an important subsidiary role.