21 Aldgate: July 2020 - A Word from the Author

Sunday, July 12, 2020

July 2020 - A Word from the Author

American states are far from Aldgate in a myriad of ways. The state I'm beginning to like the least is Florida, where I live. Today reaching more than fifteen thousand new cases of the CoVid-19 virus - is giving us the unwanted title of the hardest-hit state in the nation. I find it difficult to concentrate. I'm weary of staying home. I'd love to be in London - but we aren't welcome there or to any other country in Europe and we won't be until we find a way to keep ourselves and those around us safe. Americans have this thing about freedom and the Constitution. Freedom to not wear a mask. Freedom to congregate in crowded bars and beaches. Freedom to say, ' I don't want to' therefore 'I don't have to'. I have this thing about being sensible and not tempting fate. I cannot change their attitudes - a Brit at heart, I know I have to 'grin and bear it', or 'keep calm and carry on.' We need to be patient - we're in the fifth month of this pandemic and I fear we're nowhere near the end of it.
21 Aldgate, the miniseries, is in a holding pattern as are all similar projects until we are free of this plague which threatens all our lives.

Patricia Friedberg.

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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 four 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.