The Red Leather Diary: Reclaiming a Life Through the Pages of a Lost Journal

Summary (from the publisher): Rescued from a dumpster on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, a discarded diary bring 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?

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.

 

Review: In 2003, author Lily Koppel, then a young writer working at the New York Times, discovered a battered diary in several trunks that were discarded from her apartment building in the Upper West Side of Manhattan. The daily diary was carefully recorded in from 1929 to 1934 by a young woman living in New York named Florence Wolfson. As Koppel read the diary, she became increasingly intrigued by Florence and ultimately decided to track her down. With Florence's permission and assistance, Koppel wrote a biography of sorts of Florence's life based on her diary entries.

 

Florence's diary reveals what it was like to grow up as a fairly well to do teenager in New York City in the early 1930s. "Florence's city had a heartbeat. She was there, at the center of things. The sexy, steely city operated like a well-oiled machine before her eyes" (44). Florence pursues art, theater, writing, traipses about Central Park, has numerous romantic entanglements with both men and women, enjoys the material world of fashion and design, and dreams about her future.

 

Florence was the daughter of Rebecca and Daniel Wolfson, who both came to America in 1906, Rebecca from Lithuania and Daniel from the Ukraine. Rebecca owned "Rebecca Wolfson Gowns on Madison Avenue and Fifty-second Street, where she stitched up frocks for clients who paid up to one thousand dollars an outfit, an obscene amount of money" (46), while Daniel was a doctor. Yet the marriage was not an overly happy one, leading to tension at home for Florence and her younger brother Irving. Florence's parents didn't approve of her interest in art and her boy crazy ways, expecting her to settle down and marry a nice Jewish boy. And while fairly well to do, Florence was made to feel not quite good enough with many of the children of her mother's clients.

 

This book was a fascinating look at what it was like to be a teenager in New York City in the 30s. However, like many teenagers, there were certainly aspects of Florence that were self-absorbed and thoughtless. She is primarily concerned with superficial interests like clothing and socializing. When her good friend Evelyn is sick in the hospital, "Florence waited several days before going to see her so as not to seem too available" (215). Evelyn died just days later.

 

The writing style of this bothered me at times. Koppel has basically summarized the diary, adding in additional thoughts and photos gleaned from an elderly Florence and quotes from the original diary. At times it was difficult to follow the chronology since some chapters felt like a fluid litany of activities Florence would enjoy in the city rather than a description of actual events.

 

Although Florence completed her master's degree with Columbia and had high aspirations to write, she never realized her goals. The present day Florence, upon re-reading her diary, seemed saddened by her inability to remain her 'true self' throughout her adult life. And how quickly that life seemed to flit by: "How the days slip by - this is tomorrow night & it seems - still - like yesterday" (277).

 

Stars: 3