The Unveiling of The Unveiling

Now that my debut novel, The Unveiling, has been published, I want to share my experiences as an author. Although the book is fiction, real people and events were my inspiration.

During my childhood in Pittsburgh, it was always my hope to write about the stories I heard from family members about how they escaped the oppression of czarist Russia. In-depth interviews with a number of family members and extensive historical research provided important background material.

The story is about the power of family secrets and the liberating quality of unveiling the truth. It follows the dreams, fears and accomplishments of a Jewish woman and her family, portraying not only their struggle to escape the hardships of shtetl life in eastern Europe, but also their escape from the stigma of mental illness.