I found this fair-condition softcover at a local Salvation Army thrift shop, and thought it sounded intriguing: a young writer found an old diary among the contents of a steamer trunk that was being discarded during an apartment-house cleanout, and not only was she fascinated by the details of the diarist's life, but she tracked down the diarist herself - by then, a 90-year-old woman who could hardly believe that her youthful journal had turned up.

Florence, the diarist, grew up in Harlem and the upper East Side of New York in the 1920s - and apparently had quite a lively time, with lots of friends, parties, and romances, with men and with women. Koppel's book fills in the background of the diary entries, providing information about the people Florence describes and the places she goes, the plays she sees, and the books (some of them no longer popular) that she reads. And the combination of diary and background paints a picture of - well, something of a Bright Young Thing, US-version.

There are lots of photos, of Florence and her family as well as of her various love-interests - including the man she married and spent sixty years with, settling down to a relatively quiet life after her vivacious youth.

I left this book on a bench outside the medical center on this lovely day; hope the finder enjoys it! (I included a recent article about another BC book from the local paper.)

[See other recent releases in NH here.]

*** Released for the 2018 April Showers/May Flowers release challenge. ***