The Boston Girl

Diamant, Anita

3.83

85,635 ratings by Goodreads

ISBN 10: 1442380365 ISBN 13: 9781442380363

Publisher: Simon & Schuster, 2014

From the New York Times bestselling author of The Red Tent and Day After Night, comes an unforgettable coming-of-age novel about family ties and values, friendship and feminism told through the eyes of young Jewish woman growing up in Boston in the early twentieth century.

Addie Baum is The Boston Girl, born in 1900 to immigrant parents who were unprepared for and suspicious of America and its effect on their three daughters. Growing up in the North End, then a teeming multicultural neighborhood, Addie’s intelligence and curiosity take her to a world her parents can’t imagine—a world of short skirts, movies, celebrity culture and new opportunities for women. Addie wants to finish high school and dreams of going to college. She wants a career and to find true love.

Eighty-five-year-old Addie tells the story of her life to her twenty-two-year-old granddaughter, who has asked her “How did you get to be the woman you are today.” She begins in 1915, the year she found her voice and made friends who would help shape the course of her life. From the one-room tenement apartment she shared with her parents and two sisters, to the library group for girls she joins at a neighborhood settlement house, to her first, disastrous love affair, Addie recalls her adventures with compassion for the na�ve girl she was and a wicked sense of humor.

Written with the same attention to historical detail and emotional resonance that made Anita Diamant’s previous novels bestsellers, The Boston Girl is a moving portrait of one woman’s complicated life in twentieth century America, and a fascinating look at a generation of women finding their places in a changing world.

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Review:

'A gripping story of a young Jewish woman growing up in early-20th-century Boston... A stunning look into the past with a plucky heroine readers will cheer for' --Publishers Weekly

'Diamant offers impeccable descriptions of Boston life during those early years of the 20th century and creates a loving, caring lead character who grows in front of our eyes' --Library Journal

'A resonant portrait of a complex woman.... In addition to providing a graphic, page-turning portrait of immigrant life in the early twentieth century, Diamant's novel is an inspirational read that is likely to be a popular book-club choice' --Booklist

'Enjoyable fiction with a detailed historical backdrop' --Kirkus

'Time and place are convincingly evoked as Diamant immerses the reader in immigrant life, complete with traditional strict-with-a-heart-of-gold Jewish mother, and the early stirrings of women's liberation are reflected through Addie's own growth to independence and womanhood. It's a wonderful read' --Daily Mail

About the Author:

Anita Diamant is a prizewinning journalist whose work has appeared regularly in The Boston Globe Magazine and Parenting magazine. The author of three prior novels, including the international bestseller THE RED TENT, she lives in Massachusetts with her husband and daughter. Visit her website at www.anitadiamant.com

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