The Red Leather Diary

I like the feeling of a pen between my fingers and paper beneath my palm. So I began carrying a Moleskin notebook with me, in case a creative juice begins to flow, I’ll have somewhere to capture it. Like right now, for whatever reason, "fallen rose pedals, soft pink bubble gum and the breeze from a butterfly’s flutter" are the words that are currently running thru my head. I have a passion for writing and because of that, I am highly tempted to sell my business and pursue a career as a freelance writer in NYC. I’m aware that I would make significantly less money, live in a smaller place and live a simpler life, but I think following my heart would make me happy. I keep pushing that dream to the backburner and letting it simmer. Why? I guess I don’t really have an answer for that, other than perhaps the fear of failure. I question whether or not it’s smart to discard something I’m highly talented at doing for something I may only possess a small amount of talent for. I try to reason it out. I try to rationalize it. Instead of just making it a reality. Sometimes I think I look to some higher power, like show me a sign. And although some signs are there, I still seem to make excuses to not follow. The story below is just another reason why I carry a Moleskin notebook with me and it’s yet another sign of perhaps why I should follow a dream, no matter how crazy people may think I am for doing so.

Rescued from a Dumpster on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, a discarded diary brings to life the glamorous, forgotten world of an extraordinary young woman. For more than half a century, the red leather diary lay silent, languishing inside a steamer trunk, its worn cover crumbling into little flakes. When a cleaning sweep of a New York City apartment building brings this lost treasure to light, both the diary and its owner are given a second life.

Recovered by Lily Koppel, a young writer working at the New York Times, the journal paints a vivid picture of 1930s New York-horseback riding in Central Park, summer excursions to the Catskills, and an obsession with a famous avant-garde actress. From 1929 to 1934, not a single day's entry is skipped.

Opening the tarnished brass lock, Koppel embarks on a journey into the past, traveling to a New York in which women of privilege meet for tea at Schrafft's, dance at the Hotel Pennsylvania, and toast the night at El Morocco. As she turns the diary's brittle pages, Koppel is captivated by the headstrong young woman whose intimate thoughts and emotions fill the pale blue lines. Who was this lovely ingénue who adored the works of Baudelaire and Jane Austen, who was sexually curious beyond her years, who traveled to Rome, Paris, and London?

She writes about her passions, about love, about books, music, art and writing. These are just a few of my favorite exerts...

• "Hours repairing torn music books and they look perfectly hideous with adhesive plastered all over them, but what beauty within. My love is so sporadic."
• "Have stuffed myself with Mozart and Beethoven. I feel like a ripe apricot - I’m dizzy with the exotic."
• "Went to the Museum of Modern Art today. Sheer jealousy. I can’t even paint an apple yet. It’s heartbreaking!"
• "Slept with Pearl tonight. It was beautiful. There is nothing so gratifying as physical intimacy with one you like."
• "Wrote all day - and my story is still incomplete."

Compelled by the hopes and heartaches captured in the pages, Koppel sets out to find the diary's owner, her only clue the inscription on the frontispiece - "This book belongs to...Florence Wolfson." A chance phone call from a private investigator leads Koppel to Florence, a ninety-year-old woman living with her husband of sixty-seven years. Reunited with her diary, Florence ventures back to the girl she once was, rediscovering a lost self that burned with artistic fervor.

Joining intimate interviews with original diary entries, Koppel reveals the world of a New York teenager obsessed with the state of her soul and her appearance, and muses on the serendipitous chain of events that returned the lost journal to its owner. Evocative and entrancing, The Red Leather Diary re-creates the romance and glitter, sophistication and promise, of 1930s New York, bringing to life the true story of a precocious young woman who dared to follow her dreams. Visit www.redleatherdiary.com

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• 1/1/08 - Proving Myself Wrong