Shirley Russak Wachtel

Shirley Russak Wachtel is the author of A Castle in Brooklyn. She is the daughter of Holocaust survivors and was born and raised in Brooklyn, New York. Wachtel holds a doctor of letters degree from Drew University and for the past thirty-five years has taught English literature at Middlesex College in Edison, New Jersey. Her podcast, EXTRAordinary People, features inspiring individuals who have overcome obstacles to make a difference. The mother of three grown sons and grandmother to three precocious granddaughters, she currently resides in East Brunswick, New Jersey, with her husband, Arthur.

Wachtel's new novel is The Baker of Lost Memories.

Recently I asked the author about what she was reading. Her reply:

I have been an avid reader since I was eight years old. Whether I’m sitting in my backyard, waiting in a doctor’s office, or just before drifting off to sleep, I always have a book in hand. Like the stories I write, I am drawn to tales about people and relationships. My love for books goes beyond the stories so that I never borrow books but buy each book so that it occupies a coveted space in my library. Every few weeks, I rotate the genres, moving from classics to nonfiction and popular fiction.

I recently reread Thornton Wilder’s Our Town, a play about a small town in New England which takes us through the lives of ordinary people as they raise their families, find love, and endure loss. This play touched me as it showed that there is beauty in even the mundane. I made sure to see the latest rendition of this play on Broadway shortly after I read it.

The Small and the Mighty by Sharon McMahon sheds light on individuals in American history who made significant contributions to our country, but whose names we may not know. One woman, Clara Brown, comes to mind. As a slave, Clara was separated from her young daughter and searched for her in the ensuing years. Once emancipated, Clara worked for others, then established her own cooking and laundering business before becoming a millionaire and philanthropist in Colorado. At age 82, she and her daughter were finally reunited. Each of the vignettes in McMahon’s book are just as compelling and inspiring as this one.

As soon as Lynda Cohen Loigman’s The Love Elixir of Augusta Stern came out, I knew I had to read it. I have been a fan of her work since The Two-Family House, for she writes of the people I know, the Jews of Brooklyn who face struggles as they build their lives. In her latest book, we meet a retired pharmacist who relocates to a senior community in Florida where she is shocked to meet the man who deserted her sixty years earlier. We learn what happened through a series of flashbacks. Adding extra spice to the story is magical realism, a technique I use in my latest book.

Visit Shirley Wachtel's website.

The Page 69 Test: A Castle in Brooklyn.

My Book, The Movie: A Castle in Brooklyn.

Q&A with Shirley Russak Wachtel.

My Book, The Movie: The Baker of Lost Memories.

--Marshal Zeringue