New York Times bestseller! An unforgettable novel about a young Jewish woman growing up in Boston in the early twentieth century, told ';with humor and optimismthrough the eyes of an irresistible heroine' (People)from the acclaimed author of The Red Tent.Anita Diamants vivid, affectionate portrait of American womanhood (Los Angeles Times), follows the life of one woman, Addie Baum, through a period of dramatic change. Addie is The Boston Girl, the spirited daughter of an immigrant Jewish family, born in 1900 to parents who were unprepared for America and its effect on their three daughters. Growing up in the North End of Boston, then a teeming multicultural neighborhood, Addies intelligence and curiosity take her to a world her parents cant imaginea 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. 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, to finding the love of her life, eighty-five-year-old Addie recounts her adventures with humor and compassion for the nave girl she once was. Written with the same attention to historical detail and emotional resonance that made Diamants previous novels bestsellers, The Boston Girl is a moving portrait of one womans complicated life in twentieth century America, and a fascinating look at a generation of women finding their places in a changing world. Diamant brings to life a piece of feminisms forgotten history (Good Housekeeping) in this inspirationalpage-turning portrait of immigrant life in the early twentieth century (Booklist).
