A Letter from Danielle for October ’16
Hi Everyone!
I hope the fall is off to a good start for you. I love October!! The weather is crisp and invigorating!! Fall activities are well underway, the kids are settled back in school, there is no pressure about the holidays yet (except for people like me who start Christmas shopping in August.) I do a lot of serious writing in October, but then again, I guess I do that all the time! October just feels great, and everyone is full of energy before the really cold weather hits, or you are knee deep in snow, shovelling out your driveway.
One of our favorite family holidays is in October… Halloween, of course! When my kids were little, we spent months deciding on costumes, and making them. There were some pretty exotic ones: The Little Mermaid, assorted witches, Superman, Spiderman, Prince, Michael Jackson, Wonderwoman. And then as they got older, more complicated ones. One of my daughter’s boyfriends showed up in a costume that looked like her dog. I painted my face white one year and wore a white wig and was a “Ghost Writer.” We turned our guest room into a haunted house, with spider webs and scary sounds, and the kids loved scarying everyone!!
My children only stopped dressing for Halloween a few years ago. Some of them still occasionally do, as characters in their favorite TV shows and such. One of my daughters looked terrific two years ago as a matador/bullfighter, and went to a party with a friend who dressed as a bull. Even now, I set a table full of candy out on Halloween, and have a big cake, and my kids show up and help themselves. They don’t make a big deal of Halloween in France, so I take candy and decorations to the little kids I know there, since I’m often in that country. It’s definitely a fun day!
On the book front, I have a new hardcover coming out in just about a month, on November 1st. It’s one of my favorites, and called THE AWARD. It’s the story of a woman who was a hero in her teens in the Resistance during World War II, saving countless children, and was falsely accused of being a collaborator at the end of the war, a reputation which follows her throughout her life. Her adventures and bravery during the war were remarkable, and her life interesting thereafter (as a fashion model right after the war, married to two very different men during her lifetime, with a life in Paris and New York, and running a Holocaust museum in France in later years). Her granddaughter is a journalist who spends years trying to clear her grandmother’s name, and at last, her heroism is acknowledged. Her name is cleared and she is decorated with the Legion of Honor. It’s a very touching book, filled with excitement from World War II to the present. I hope you love the book as much as I do. There is something about heroic people during that time that is very special.
I hope you have a wonderful month, are full of energy, and that life is more treat than trick for you on Halloween and always!!
Much love,
Danielle