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Written by Joanne Wallenstein

Published: 12 June 2023

Created: 12 June 2023

Last Updated: 15 June 2023

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Dara Gruenberg interviewed author Barbara Josselsohn at Scarsdale LibraryWhat is historical fiction and how broad can the definition be for “historical fiction?” That was a subject of discussion of a conversation between Scarsdale author Barbara Josselsohn and moderator Dara Gruenberg at a book party for Josselsohn’s new book, “Secrets of the Italian Island,” at Scarsdale Library on June 5, 2023.

The reception and conversation were held in a grassy knoll outside the library, just a day before the smoke descended and forced everyone inside. The audience was filled with Josselsohn’s friends from the Scarsdale Library’s Writers Center, friends, readers and even her agent.

Mark Fowler from Bronx River Books was on hand to provide copies of the new book which the author signed for admirers following the talk.

The book is a “dual timeline” novel, based in 1943 and in 2019, following a present day heroine investigating mysterious circumstances of her grandmother’s life during World War II in Italy. Following the death of her grandmother, Mia, the present day protagonist, is going through the contents of her grandmother’s house when she learns that her grandmother has been accused of a crime and discovers some mysterious artifacts.

Anxious to learn more about her grandmother’s past and to clear her name, Mia travels to a celebrated private island off the coast of Italy that is the scene of the wartime drama.

Josselsohn was asked for the source of her inspiration for the book and she shared some surprising news. The island and magical castle where the action takes place, are actually based in France, off the coast of Brittany. That island was acquired by a Polish mathematician and inventor who invited many talented artists, writers and scientists to work there prior to World War II.

As in the book, the island was invaded by the Nazis and there are few historical records about what took place. The inventor’s daughter was killed at Auschwitz. Now it is again a private island so there’s been little written about it.

How did she research a story about a fictional island during World War II? Josselsohn explained that she began her research at the Scarsdale Library and accessed resources from here and around the country. She used Pinterest boards to form a visual picture of her story and her imagination to construct the plot.

Asked if she worried about historical accuracy, she said she did try to write in keeping with the era but does not get hung up on small points of fact. She says her proofreader and copyeditor did a wonderful job of fact checking and reviewing her manuscript for accuracy.

The reception to this book has been so good that Josselsohn is now writing a second book in the series called, The Lost Gift to the Italian Island. This one focuses on the grandmother’s younger sister Guilia.

Josselsohn closed with a reading from the book which whet the audience’s appetite for more.

Secrets of the Italian Island is available in paperback at Bronx River Books and also on Kindle here:

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Written by Joanne Wallenstein

Published: 19 June 2023

Created: 19 June 2023

Last Updated: 21 June 2023

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Geraldine Brooks, the Pulitzer-prize-winning, bestselling author, came to the Scarsdale Library on Friday evening, June 16th, for a conversation with New York Times journalist, Sarah Lyall. Their talk was centered on Horse, Geraldine Brooks’ most recent novel, but the fascinating and moving discussion ranged across many topics including race relations, loss, grief, the current state of publishing, and more. And as anyone who has read her works of historical fiction (March, Crossing Caleb, Year of Wonders, People of the Book) knows, Brooks is a master of researching undiscovered stories and filling in the blanks to build characters and weave rich tales, based in truth and enhanced by her vivid imagination and evocative writing.

In Horse, Brooks, who was an international correspondent for the Wall Street Journal for about a decade, intertwines historical periods, geographic locales, the art world, horse racing, slavery and racism. The reader is taken from the Civil War to present day Washington D.C. as Brooks illuminates themes that resonate through time.

Elyse Klayman, who serves on the Board of the Friends of the Scarsdale Library who sponsored the event, introduced the witty and empathetic Lyall by saying she covers sports, culture, media and international news–or “everything all over the map.” Lyall then called Brooks, “one of her personal heroes,” who writes “books that resonate,” bringing us “right inside the historical characters’ lives.”She produces worlds, she said, that feel so alive and uses interesting points to bring the past to the present.”

Lyall opened up the interview by asking Brooks where the inspiration for Horse came from–and the conversation was off and running.Sarah Lyall and Geraldine Brooks

In her charming Australian accent Brooks explained, “It’s better to become horse obsessed when you are 5 or 15 years old. It happened to me when I was in my fifties at a writer’s retreat in Santa Fe where I was admiring the horses. I was invited on a trail ride and I had never ridden a horse. I grew up in the city and the only horses I knew were for the mounted police. So I went on a horse ride where we took off through the arroyos.”

She was hooked after that. And a friend actually gave her a horse, believe it or not.

But how did she come to focus on Lexington, the famed racehorse who stars in her book? Brooks said she was at a fundraiser when she met a man who had delivered the skeleton of a famous racehorse to a museum. He then told her the story of what had happened to the horse during the civil war, and she realized she had to know more, and that she had found the subject of her next novel.

In the course of telling the tale of this grand racehorse, Brooks would be led to writing about slavery and racism before the Civil War. She explained that during that era, “horse racing was big; it was like the NFL. There were three newspapers that reported only on horseracing – which was built on the backs of Black men.” Brooks said, “I had to do a deep dive into Black lives of the 19th century. … Black trainers, jockeys and the grooms who cared for these horses and made them excellent.”

Brooks went to the Smithsonian Museum in Washington and to Lexington, Kentucky where there is a library dedicated to horseracing. The horse was so famous, she found, that his obituary was six pages long, but, tellingly, the Black groom who played a pivotal role in the horse’s life, Jarett, was not mentioned. Lexington, she learned, was the fastest horse that ever lived. In those days, she told the crowd, horses raced over four miles, cooled out and ran it again. It was a test of speed, stamina and race tactics.

Elyse KlaymanAfter he retired,” Brooks went on, “Lexington became the greatest stud sire in American history; all the famous horses we know today, including Seabiscuit, and Aristedes, who won the first Kentucky Derby, are his descendants.”

While Brooks was in the process of writing Horse, her husband, Tony Horwitz, also a Pulitzer Prize winning journalist and author, died suddenly during a book tour. “I was very sad when I wrote the second half of this book,” Brooks confided. “I didn’t write for months, but then got some advice from Nina Totenberg who got it from Ruth Bader Ginsberg when she had been grieving the loss of her husband: “You should do your work,” she said.It might not be your best work, but it will be good work and it will save you.” “That’s quite a lineage right there,” quipped Sarah Lyall, remarking on the pedigree of that shared wisdom.

About her husband’s role in the book, Brooks said, “Tony loved 19th century American history.” He found the artist Thomas Scott, who did an oil painting of the horse that figures prominently in the story. “The second half of the book is about grief,” she said. “I finished the book so I could dedicate it to Tony.”
And why did Brooks make the transition from journalism to writing novels? In 1994, the Wall Street Journal sent her to Nigeria to investigate a massacre. The Ogoni people were protesting the actions of Royal Shell Oil who had despoiled the tribe's lands when excavating for oil. She asked the military for comment and was promptly thrown into jail. During the (blessedly brief) three days she was held, Brooks had time to take an accounting of her life and determined she would change course.

During the Q&A session, a member of the audience asked Geraldine Brooks about the difference between reporting news and writing fiction. Brooks explained that fiction allows her “license” to make up the stories she can’t corroborate. “When you are convinced that you have the real story but you don’t have two sources to quote, you can’t write it for a newspaper.” Brooks said she found that frustrating at times as a journalist, and loves using her imagination to fill in the details now that she’s writing fiction.

Brooks is currently writing a memoir about what happened when her husband Tony died called Memorial Days. “It’s shocking,” she said, “how bad we are at dealing with loss and grief.” She has an upcoming fellowship at New College in Oxford where she will work on her next historical novel, which she has already begun. Ever courageous, and determined and passionate about her work, Brooks spent three weeks in a shack on a remote island off Tasmania writing last year. The population of the town where the shack was, she said, was “nil” and it was 35 miles to the nearest store. “Weekly shopping lists needed to be thorough,” Brooks said, laughing, and telling the enchanted attendees about solitary happy hours watching the sun set with dozens of Wallabees.

One thing’s for sure: a lot of us can’t wait to read Brooks’ next historic novel, and while we are girding for a tough read when Memorial Days is published, no doubt Brooks will move us, and inspire us both to consider the fragility of life, and to appreciate the world around us.

Photo credit: Jay Cohen. See his work here.

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Written by Vivian Zweig

Published: 29 May 2023

Created: 29 May 2023

Last Updated: 29 May 2023

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On May 23, 2023, Scarsdale's National Art Honor Society Club (NAHSC) unveiled a new mural in front of DeCicco Family Market. The new mural has replaced the iconic Wing the Dale mural, which has been an integral community aspect since 2019.

In the late afternoon sun, members of the NAHSC assembled in front of DeCicco's East Parkway wall, along with Mayor Justin Arest and Amy Nadasdi, the Arts Advisory Council Chairperson. Nadasdi said, "This beautiful public art project demonstrates the student's commitment to fostering a sense of pride in our community and enhancing the quality of life for all residents and visitors to our Village Center."

Mayor Arest opened the ceremony with a few words on the importance of art in the community. Arest stated that art allows "…individuals to explore diverse perspectives and engage in critical thinking while also contributing to the community's cultural identity and cohesion." The new mural continues the Healing Tree project, which started with last year's Non-Sibi Day, which is meant to convey that color and light prevail in times of darkness.

After a few words from Nadasdi and Janna Johnsen, the High School Art Teacher, Frank Decicco, and Mayor Arest unveiled the mural, and tree branches' bright, swirling colors emerged into the sunlight. Now, the Healing Tree is not only at the High School but also in the Village.

Suler Lu is a graduating senior who joined the club in freshman year when they unveiled the Wing the Dale mural. She said that "It's come full circle. When we were first freshman, they had just wrapped up Wing the Dale, which was the first mural done in the Village. Now that we're leaving, we've left a new mural in the same spot." The new mural encourages kindness and happiness for Scarsdale residents and provides a poetic end to the graduating class's high school art careers.