by admin

Please Write One More…

All-of-a-Kind Family Downtown; More All-of-a-Kind Family; All-of-a-Kind Family Uptown ;Ella of All-of-a-Kind Family

When I was seven I wrote to Sydney Taylor, asking her to write another novel. Turn-of-the-century heroines Ella, Henny, Sarah, Charlotte, and Gertie showed me that as a Jewish female I had not only a history but a literary tradition as well. These were the first books I read where Jewishness was the norm—not a source of angst, but a happy fact of life.

I soon received a reply, explaining that Taylor had died in 1978, thus ending my hopes of a new novel. It was signed, “Affectionately, Ralph Taylor (husband).” It was my first literary correspondence.

Elizabeth Michaelson is it former LILITH intern and a 1996 graduate of Barnard College.