Why Did You Write This As Fiction and Not a Family Memoir?

When I meet with people who are interested in discussing The Unveiling with me, one of the most frequent questions raised is “Why did you decide to make this a historical novel rather than a memoir?”

Let me explain why I decided to write it as fiction.

From the beginning, my plan was to build this story around my mother’s life – to portray her family background, the early hardships of her childhood, her dreams and accomplishments, and her valiant efforts as a single mother enduring the stigma of a mentally ill husband.

The first time I interviewed my mother, she enthusiastically provided many hours of taped interviews. I was surprised at how many personal experiences she shared, although in a few instances, I convinced her to tell me things only by reassuring her that the book would be fiction and all names would be changed.

My mother’s memories of the sights and sounds of the pogroms her family suffered through always impressed young family members who became her audience through the years. Although she didn’t remember the historical sequence of some of the events, she gave me enough detail to allow me to draw upon historical research to confirm the information she provided and to use my imagination to fill in possible scenarios, consistent with factual records of the same time periods.

After interviewing my mother, I decided to speak with other relatives to strengthen the story that was emerging. Each interviewee added an important dimension, but they didn’t always remember things in a consistent way. And they all left some gaps in the story.

Writing the book as fiction allowed me to enhance some of the memories. It also enabled me to include dialogue that might have taken place as I tried to capture the voices of  the people and the humor in their Yiddish phrases.

I never intended this book to be a genealogical study of our family. I know some of my relatives have done such studies and have more information than I do about the genealogy. Because my mother had so many relatives, I had to leave some out who were not central to her story. I had to combine other characters, including many who were dear friends to my mother. I even imagined a few characters who could have played a significant role in the action. For me the important thing is that the book celebrates my mother’s courage and my family’s resilience…and those features are not fictional.

Review Sparks Discussion about Mental Illness

A letter to the editor of Pittsburgh’s Jewish Chronicle by Dr. Emil Trellis one week after the review appeared takes issue with the reviewer’s description of Morton and explains how Morton’s mental illness, undiagnosed at the time, was the reason for the behavior.  Following is the letter from Dr. Trellis to Pittsburgh's Jewish Chronicle:

Mental illness overlooked

Your March 25 review of “The Unveiling” is much appreciated. Your comments about the struggles of a Jewish family in pre-World War I Ukraine along with the adjustment difficulties after arriving in America should certainly stimulate potential readers. Likewise, Ettie’s mothering success, for practical purposes as a single mother, is well noted.

It is from a retired psychiatrist’s perspective that I feel that there was too little emphasis of Morton’s mental illness and its devastating influence on the family. I didn’t feel that he was so much an “unreliable born loser” but rather his consistent self-defeating behavior, depicted rather early after his appearance in the novel, was more an early manifestation of his paranoid schizophrenia.

Subsequently his emotional deterioration with his ultimate lifelong confinement to Mayview resulted in much family hardship including profound shame, particularly on the part of Ettie and David. Ettie lived life posing as a widow. David, after learning he had a father who was mentally ill, shared in the shame and also supported strongly the family “secret.” It was through the shiva, initially opposed by Ettie, that she and David were able to resolve this psychic pain.

It is my opinion that there is still much lack of understanding and stigma regarding serious mental illness in our society today. The term “schizophrenia” is lightly frequently used to depict a situation with diametrically opposite views. This undercuts the severity of the illness. The individual patient and the involved family deeply suffer. Sadly, there is often no significant cure. I feel that with appropriate counseling, at least the stigma, as well as other issues, could be better resolved by all. Conceivably, this might be of interest and benefit to some readers.

Dr. Emil Trellis
Squirrel Hill

Positive Review in Pittsburgh’s Jewish Chronicle

How appropriate that the first review of The Unveiling by the print media appeared in Pittsburgh’s Jewish Chronicle! It has heightened interest both in the book and in the issue of how mental illness affects families. Thanks to all the readers who contacted me after seeing the review.  Following is a reprint of the review:.

‘Unveiling’ a real look at the lives of Jewish immigrants

by Lee Chottiner, Executive Editor

“The Unveiling,” by Leah Rae Lambert, is a deceptively interesting novel.

For the first 50 pages or so, the reader gets the impression that the most interesting aspect of this book is its references to local places. Lambert, formerly of Pittsburgh, incorporates actual streets, stores, institutions and neighborhoods from Pittsburgh into her story of an extended family sitting shiva for their estranged, deeply disturbed father and grandfather, Morton Burin.

The characters go to dances at the Irene Kaufmann Settlement, they shop in the Strip District and set up a business in nearby Vandergrift. Lambert even mentions The Chronicle, as the paper where Burin’s funeral announcement appears.

The book initially feels like another locally set novel, Thomas Bell’s “Out of This Furnace,” which tells the story of an immigrant family’s life in Braddock and was a popular read for many Mon Valley Jews.

But “The Unveiling” is more than a trip down memory lane. While we see the family gathering around their mother and grandmother — Ettie Burin — to recount the family story as the shiva draws on, we gain a sobering understanding of the personal lives of newcomers to America, and how the immigrant experience took its toll.

We learn how Ettie’s father, Yitzhac, after being attacked by bandits near his home village of Skvira, Ukraine, prior to World War I, leaves for America planning to work, save and send for his wife, Sarah, and their three children.

Eight years pass before their reunion. During that time, Sarah and the kids survive the Russian Revolution, the civil war that followed and numerous pogroms.

When reunited in America, Sarah and Yitzhac are not the same people. They are disappointed with one another, their relationship forever altered by the long separation.

The story picks up with Ettie’s marriage to Morton, an unreliable born loser who can be violent at times. Ettie stays with him only because she fears the humiliation of divorce. Morton frequently disappears for days, even weeks at a time. Finally we learn he has a mental illness, is hospitalized, and will never be well. The family goes on public assistance. All of this happens with World War II as the backdrop, and news of the Holocaust slowly coming out.

To be sure, “The Unveiling” is not a happy story, but it’s a hopeful story. Ettie’s kids are successful, well adjusted and reasonably happy. Most importantly, they use the shiva to come to terms with their family history. They don’t run from their story, they embrace it, constantly urging Ettie to tell all she remembers about her difficult life.

One gets the feeling they’re learning from her, symbolically standing on her shoulders to reach for something better. And isn’t that what the immigrant experience is all about?