Thursday, June 4, 2009

THE GOLDEN WILLOW : THE STORY OF A LIFETIME OF LOVE
by Harry Bernstein

At the ripe old age of ninety-four, Harry Bernstein wrote his first book, The Invisible Wall and two years later, his second book The Dream. (Both were reviewed in this blog.)
Now that Bernstein has turned ninety-nine comes the final tale in the trilogy.
The Golden Willow is a tender tribute of his long romance married to his wife, Ruby, for almost seventy years.
They met at a dance, in New York, and instantly fell in love. After marriage, in 1935, their first abode was a tiny rented room (nowadays called a studio apartment) in the Upper West Side. A few years later, they moved to Greenwich Village. Though poor, the two of them managed. Ruby was the one doing all the supporting by working as a secretary at a bookstore. Harry did, eventually, get a job at MGM. He was a reader of books and plays that might be considered as movie material.
Children soon followed and they moved, again, to rear them in the suburbs.
Harry and Ruby shared an incredible love and went through very few bumps in their life together. Then, when Ruby was ninety-one, she contracted leukemia and passed away.
Harry was alone for the first time in his life. The only way he could get through his grief was to write.
A wonderful memoir, just like his previous two. If we're lucky, we might get another one. Bernstein is working on a new book.
Recommended.