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/ft DETROIT JEWISH NEWS

S:.4

7/28
2000

80

INTERNATIONAL
NEWS PLUS

372 Oullette Avenue • Windsor, Canada

itona's Girls

In her newest novel, best-selling author Rona Jaffe
creates compelling female characters who meet
the challenges of their time.

Jaffe, who is Jewish, chose not to
make the Smiths Jewish, although one
Special to the Jewish News
of Rose's stepsisters goes on to marry a
Jew.
"I wanted to do what is consid-
t didn't take long for novelist
ered
a
stereotypical WASP American
Rona Jaffe to make her mark
family," says Jaffe, who grew up
among the American literati.
Reform and celebrated the major reli-
Shortly after graduating from col-
gious holidays.
lege in the 1950s, Jaffe published her
"If you are writing about 100 years
first bestseller, The Best of Everything.
of
an
American family, you pick the
Today, after five decades and more than
In "The Road Taken," four generations
Smith
family who live in Bristol, R.I.,
a dozen other critically acclaimed novels,
of one American family recapture the
where the father is a butch-
she turns out her most
events that shaped our nation.
er. It was what we thought
engaging piece of work yet,
America was at that time.
The Road Taken (Dutton;
I said I was quitting to write a book, so I
"However," she notes,
$24.95), which hit book-
thought I had better — and I did."
"my book Family Secrets is a
stores this month.
That book was The Best of Everything,
saga about 70 years of a
"I am most proud of this
and
it catapulted Jaffe from anonymity
Jewish family."
book," says Jaffe, sipping
to
stardom.
"While the book was still in
Like many authors,
on a Coke in a cafe on the
the
galley
form
it was bought to be
Jaffe says she created the
Upper East Side of
made
into
a
movie
starring Suzy Parker
characters' trials and tribu-
Manhattan. "Everyone
and
Bob
Evans,"
says
Jaffe, who was
lations in her novel as she
remembers my first novel,
only 26 years old at the time.
went
along.
"I
had
certain
but that one was really
'All of a sudden I was in every news-
high points that I knew
[about] my life and my
paper
and on television constantly — it
Author Ro na Jaffe
were going to happen, but
friends, and I was just
has been fa mous for
was
very
unreal. It was exciting but also
I didn't know what was
telling what was happening so long tha t she is
scary
because
I was thrown into a world
going to befall the charac-
in New York at the time. I
frequently a clue in
of
famous
and
sophisticated people
have put everything I know the "New York Times" ters until I wrote it," says
whom
I
had
only
heard about but had-
Jaffee, who took two years
into The Road Taken."
crossword p uzzle.
n't
met.
I
couldn't
imagine what I could
to complete the book.
Set in Bristol, RI., The
say
to
them,
and
I
knew they only want-
"At times I was so interested
Road Taken begins in the
ed
to
be
with
me
because
I was famous."
in the characters, that I turned on the
early 1900s and follows the lives of the
Since
then,
Jaffe
has
been
a high-pro-
computer just to see what was happening
Smith family into the 21st century.
file American author, churning out
to them."
Reflecting the mores, as well as the med-
novel after novel, including The Other
Born and raised in New York, Jaffe
ical, scientific and technological changes
Woman, The Last Chance and Class
wanted to become a writer for as long as
over the years, the compelling saga spans
She has continued to write for
Reunion.
she remembers. "I wrote my first poem
four generations and the obstacles they
magazines,
and signed a contract with
when I was only 2 1/2," she laughs. "I
confront in romance and relationships.
to write celebrity profiles,
Cosmopolitan
dictated it to my mother and she wrote
The story starts in -1910 with Rose
interviewing
the
likes of Barbra
it on a paper bag. I still know all the
Smith, who at 10 years old loses her
Streisand and Paul Newman.
words by heart."
mother to an unexplained death. Rose's
In recent years, Jaffe, who divides her
During her years at the prestigious
father remarries and Rose has to cope
time
between New York City and the
Dalton School in New York, Jaffe was an
with a cold stepmother.
Hamptons,
also has been busy with the
editor of the school paper. At Radcliffe
Eventually, after losing the love of her
foundation
she
started six years ago.
College she continued to hone her writ-
life to influenza during World War I,
"The
Rona
Jaffe
Foundation was cre-
ing skills, while majoring in English liter-
Rose marries a man she doesn't love and
ated
to
give
grants
to
women writers,"
ature. At age 19, she sold her first article
moves to New York. Meanwhile, her
she
says.
"I
decided
that
I wanted to do
to Seventeen magazine. "It was about a
brother Hugh, a secret homosexual drag
good things when I was alive and not
bad date I had," recalls Jaffe.
queen, moves in with her to blend into
wait until I was dead."
After graduation from college, Jaffe
the gay Greenwich Village community.
And what does Jaffe see herself doing
landed a job at Fawcett Publications,
As Rose's three daughters grow up,
10
years from now? "Writing more
where she started out as a filing clerk and
they face overwhelming tragedy, and the
books,"
says Jaffe, who is single but was
soon became a secretary. "I was eventual-
oldest siblings, Peggy and Joan, deal
in
a
relationship
with a man for more
ly promoted to a reader and then an edi-
with bitter rivalry. Throughout the
than
17
years.
"I
can't
ever see myself
tor," she says. "But I quit because they
book, Rose remains the driving force
❑
doing
anything
else."
were paying the boys more than the girls.
that holds the family together.

ALICE BURDICK SCHWEIGER

I

