Mary Helen Fein’s interview with the Tenement Museum about her book Stitching A Life, is available here.Tenement Museum
Mary Helen Fein is a writer living in Northern California.
Stitching a Life, An Immigration Story was published in June 2020, by She Writes Press. This historical novel is the story of my grandmother, Helen Breakstone Fein, who came to New York City from Lithuania by herself at the age of 16. Lithuania was part of Russia at that time, and life for Jewish families was becoming more and more dangerous as anti-Semitism grew. This is not just the story of my grandmother. It is the story of millions of immigrants who crossed the ocean and entered through Ellis Island to find a better life in the New World. Like many, my grandmother worked hard in the garment industry on the Lower East Side. For her first few years in America, she was completely focused on earning enough money to buy one more ticket, to bring one more family member to safety. She was driven to reunite the entire family in the promised land. You can purchase Stitching A Life here on Amazon.
My first novel, Loss of Deliverance was published in 2014. It is a fictional coming of age story about a young woman in the 1960 hippie years who follows a boyfriend into the drug trade. When circumstances shift and the trade moves from sailboats and Jamaican pot to big cocaine buys in Columbia, she must find her way out of this life and into something constructive. It might keep you up all night. You can purchase Loss of Deliverance here on Amazon.