A love letter to city life in all its guts and grandeur, Lillian Boxfish Takes a Walk by Kathleen Rooney paints a portrait of a remarkable woman across the canvas of a changing America: from the Jazz Age to the onset of the AIDS epidemic; the Great Depression to the birth of hip-hop."In my reckless and undiscouraged youth," Lillian Boxfish writes, "I worked in a walnut-paneled office thirteen floors above West Thirty-Fifth Street..." She took 1930s New York by storm, working her way up writing copy for R.H. Macy's to become the highest paid advertising woman in the country. It was a job that, she says, "in some ways saved my life, and in other ways ruined it." Now it's the last night of 1984 and Lillian, 85 years old but just as sharp and savvy as ever, is on her way to a party. It's chilly enough out for her mink coat and Manhattan is grittier now--her son keeps warning her about a subway vigilante on the prowl--but the quick-tongued poetess has never been one to scare easily. On a walk that takes her over 10 miles around the city, she meets bartenders, bodega clerks, security guards, criminals, children, parents, and parents-to-be, while reviewing a life of excitement and adversity, passion and heartbreak, illuminating all the ways New York has changed--and has not. Lillian figures she might as well take her time. For now, after all, the night is still young. "Transporting...witty, poignant and sparkling." --People (People Picks Book of the Week)
Book details
Format
Paperback
Publication date
April 3, 2018
ISBN
9781250151162
Publisher
Picador USA
Pages
304
Language
English
BISAC
Fiction, Literary, Women, Biographical & Autofiction, City Life
You'll fall in love with Lillian. She is 85 years old and takes a 10 mile walk through NYC while reviewing a life of adverity, excitement, passion, and heartbreak. It all happens on new years Eve, great time to read or reread it! An all time favorite.
