I’m indebted to a variety of books and other resources for helping me capture the mood of Atlanta in the 1950s—fashion, manners, news reporting, school segregation, anti-Semitism, and so on. An incomplete list: As But a Day by Janice Rothschild Blumberg; “Counterblast: How the Temple Bombing Strengthened the Civil Rights Cause” by Clive Webb; The Race Beat by Gene Roberts and Hank Klibanoff; Rich’s: A Southern Institution by Jeff Clemmons; Screening a Lynching by Matthew Bernstein; The South and the Southerner by Ralph McGill; Vogue’s Book of Etiquette (circa 1948) by Millicent Fenwick; Where Peachtree Meets Sweet Auburn by Gary Pomerantz; and especially The Temple Bombing by Melissa Fay Greene, which I read and reread. On a much lighter note, I obsessed over vintage issues of Mademoiselle.
While researching in Atlanta, I poked around various archives—as much as I’d read about the events, there was no substitute for seeing the primary documents: the yellowed newspaper columns of Ralph McGill, the editor and publisher of the Atlanta Constitution, who won a Pulitzer Prize for his editorials following the bombing; typewritten sermons from Rabbi Rothschild; and fat scrapbooks stuffed with debutante invitations and photographs.
Grateful thanks to the following people and places for granting access and providing context: Gabrielle Dudley and Kathy Shoemaker at the Stuart A. Rose Manuscript, Archives, and Rare Book Library at Emory University; Jeremy Katz, director of the Cuba Family Archives at the William Breman Jewish Heritage Museum in Atlanta; Sue VerHoef, director of oral history and genealogy at the Atlanta History Center. Thanks, too, to Bette Thomas, docent at the Center for Civil and Human Rights museum, who, in a serendipitous conversation, shared her memories of movie nights at the segregated Fox Theatre. And a heartfelt thanks to Mark Jacobson, executive director of the Temple in Atlanta—when I asked if I could take another look from the building’s rotunda, which I’d done years ago as part of a leadership class, he said, “You’re always welcome to come home.”
Any mistakes—of fact or of tone—are mine alone.
Acknowledgments
I’m wildly lucky to have my own (decidedly not pastel) posse to sustain me.
Rosemary Stimola, a wonder of an agent, believed in this book early and often, and it’s a glorious feeling to have her in my corner.
Elise Howard, editor extraordinaire, made this book better, smarter, and deeper with her incisive questions on simply everything, plot infelicities to emotional payoffs. From our first conversation, I knew the book was in excellent hands. Everyone at Algonquin has been epically wonderful—especially Sarah Alpert and Ashley Mason, and Brittani Hilles and Caitlin Rubinstein.
Nova Ren Suma said one June afternoon at the Djerassi Artist Foundation: “I think my editor might like this”—Nova, you have been so wise, and I have much to learn from you about being curious and daring on the page.
Janice Rothschild Blumberg, whose late husband, Jacob Rothschild, was the rabbi at the time of the bombing, graciously shared her memories and gently challenged some of my assumptions, encouraging me to dig deeper into the idea of belonging, for which I am deeply grateful.
A group of über-smart and observant women read for representation, bias, and accuracy (though any missteps are one thousand percent on me). Namely: Claire Hartfield, author of the superb book A Few Drops of Red: The Chicago Race Riot of 1919; Marilyn Kaye, author, who grew up in Atlanta a few years after the bombing took place; Ebony Wilkins, author and educator; Reverend Toni Belin Ingram, a dear friend and senior pastor at Greater Turner Chapel AME Church in Atlanta; Ellen Rafshoon, a US history professor at Georgia Gwinnett College; and Martha Neubert, a one-in-a-jillion friend and confidante who is dean of equity and social justice at Northfield Mount Hermon in Massachusetts.
A trio of brilliant, badass friends—Atlantans, attorneys, or both—read carefully, pens in hand: Sharon (Shag) Silvermintz, an Atlanta native who grew up going to the Temple and knows her way around synagogue shenanigans; Barb Riegelhaupt, a career law clerk, who gives stellar advice on any number of things, including courtroom logistics; and Carol Eisenberg, a former Atlantan, current attorney, and all-around mensch.
Marjan Kamali, an excellent writer and equally excellent friend, read multiple drafts over multiple years—her faith in the book has been a boon (shout-out, too, to her daughter Mona Tavangar and her ad hoc focus group); Lee Hoffman and Charity Tremblay gave extraordinary critiques and from-the-heart camaraderie; Kate Burak, director of the writing program at Boston University’s College of Communication, has been a most inspiring boss; and Lara Wilson, specifically, and GrubStreet, more broadly—Lara read a draft at just the right moment and told me to make everything worse.
The writing ecosystem of the Upper Valley has been so very welcoming—especially Cindy Faughnan, with whom I’ve spent many Monday mornings in parallel writing play at King Arthur Flour; the Norwich Writers’ Group, with its insightful and thoughtful discussions; and farther up the road, the VCFA community, where the seeds of this novel really took root at a writing retreat a few years back.
I’m thankful to my parents for creating a childhood home that embraced inclusion, social justice, creativity, and perseverance.
Finally, to my family: to Annie and Jane, my two very, very favorite people, who have taught me, as we’ve moved hither and yon, the grace of both fitting in and standing out. And to Ralph, the truest true person I know.
Also by Susan Kaplan Carlton
Lobsterland
Love & Haight
Published by Algonquin Young Readers
an imprint of Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill
Post Office Box 2225
Chapel Hill, North Carolina 27515-2225
a division of Workman Publishing
225 Varick Street
New York, New York 10014
© 2019 by Susan Kaplan Carlton.
All rights reserved.
Printed in the United States of America.
Published simultaneously in Canada by Thomas Allen & Son Limited.
Design by Carla Weise.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available.
eISBN 9781616209292
In the Neighborhood of True Page 22