BEGUILED launch party + Tango Event
Our generous and talented Argentinian tango instructors, Fernanda and Guillermo (pictured here), are hosting a book launch event for my new historical novel BEGUILED on Friday June 1st at 7:30-9 PM at Artango, 380 Washington St, Brighton (Boston), 2nd floor, followed...
Miriam and Ma in BEGUILED
Even though I'm not a big Mother's Day enthusiast (my mother was of the Hallmark Holiday persuasion), the Day does make me think about my own rocky relationship with my mother, which evolved later in life. Now that I wrote BEGUILED, I also consider the extent to which...
BEGUILED’s Protagonist Visit to NYC stirs My Teenage Memories
It is 1917. The Great War is raging in Europe. But the two friends, Miriam and Minerva, have their minds in another place. They finally travel to New York to get a glimpse of the glittering city that's been the object of Miriam's dreams since she was a little girl....
Making My Protagonist a Sympathetic albeit Flawed Character
One of the critiques of an early draft of BEGUILED, offered by screenwriter Lem Dobbs (my nephew Lem Kitaj) was that Miriam, my protagonist, was not a sympathetic enough character to take center stage. I took that critique very seriously, not only because Lem is a...
See Book Trailer for BEGUILED
BEGUILED will be released in just a few days - May 1st. If you haven't yet had a chance to find out what it's about, see my book trailer, produced expertly by Thomas Anderson of Literary Titan. Of course, I had to choose the design, music, images, and content. But I...
BEGUILED: A NOVEL about to be released May 1st
It's been more than 3 years since I put fingers to keyboard to begin this project. My first fiction piece. I couldn't be happier about the outcome. Oh, gosh, I shouldn't be saying that. Authors are supposed to be really critical of their writing, especially newbies....
Miriam as Good Witch Glinda in Wizard of Oz
Find my new historical novel, BEGUILED, on Amazon or at www.KarmaKitaj.com. Protagonist Miriam Levine spent every Saturday of her young life going to the theater and movies with her beloved Pop. It is 1916 and the "silents," vaudeville, and live theater have captured...
Boston Theater District in Era of (soon to be published) Beguiled
In the early 1900s, people loved the theater, where they dressed up in their finest outfits and promenaded through Tremont and Washington Streets in Boston, showing off their newest garb. Movies, which were, of course, silents, also were popular pastimes, being shown...
Boston’s Movie Palaces in Early 1900s
It is 1904 in Boston. Four year old Miriam is entranced with her Saturday excursions with Pop to the theater, movies (stills), vaudeville, dance, and sometimes on Sundays to the Yiddish theater. Her favorite is seeing the long-legged beautiful ladies dancing in...
The Old West End of Boston
The story opens up with Miriam Levine Bing returning to her childhood home in the old West End of Boston. This is 1921 and she is twenty-one, having left her abusive husband, holding her two-year old son. An unusual occurrence in those days for a woman to leave her...
