Do YOU Remember?

If someone

were to ask you

What was the

best summer of

your life?

Could you unlock 

that memory?

Was it this summer

last summer

ten summers before

or longer....?

Perhaps your best

summer is

yet

to

be?

This summer I

read the delightful

memoir by

Marjorie Hart,

Summer At Tiffany.

Summer At Tiffany

tells the story

of two Iowa sorority

sisters and best friends,

 Marjorie and Marty, 

who jump on a 

 train with dreams

of living and working in

New York City.....

during the WWII summer

of 1945.

M and M

Although they

plan to land jobs

at one of the big

department stores,

through a twist of events,

 they are hired by

Tiffany and Company

as pages and

become the first

women ~ ever ~

to work on the

sales floor at this

venerable retail

establishment.

They have adventures...

From night clubs

to the Automat ~

celebrity sightings

at Tiffany to

dating dashing

midshipman....

Celebrating V-J

Day in Times Square

to the sheer magic

of being young

and single and

full of energy in

the Big Apple.

Marjorie Hart 1945

At the very 

very end of the book,

 after the

epilogue and interview,

Harper Collins

{the publisher}

asks readers to

 to share memories

of the best summer

of their lives via e-mail.

So.....

I did.

Imagine my

surprise when

the author,

Marjorie Hart

herself, wrote me

back.  Little old me!

She liked my story

and wanted to send

me a signed copy 

of this lovely book.

And.....

she did.

The uber-talented

Marjorie Hart wrote

SAT over a period

of ten years, taking

writing breaks along

the way.  Originally

written for her
grandchildren, the story
 was discovered by an

editor in 2005 and

 published in 2007.

Marjorie today

But, writing was not

Ms. Hart's first love ~

it was music.  An accomplished 
cellist, she played professionally

with operas, symphonies and

 classic musicians of the 1950's,

like Peggy Lee, Nat King Cole,
Liberace and Sammy Davis Jr.

As a young mother of

four, she earned her masters in 
music in 1965 from San Diego State 

University, joining the music faculty.
Marjorie retired on her
birthday in 1993 as professor 
emerita after serving 15
years as the Department of 
Fine Arts chairperson.

Although retired from

professional cello performing

in 2004 she still plays

 three to four times a week 
with several string quartets.

Marjorie and family after her retirement birthday concert

Widowed in 1981, Marjorie

married again in 1986.

With her second husband,

Peter, she is a grandmother to

nine and step-grandmother

to five.  

Did I mention that she

has a MySpace page?

Did I mention that 

she is

86?!

Which means she

had her first book published

at age 83 : )

The July day I 

found my own copy
in the mailbox,

wrapped and addressed

by Marjorie herself,

I nearly floated back

into the house.

Inside, this is

what she'd written.....

To Suzanne:  Treasure all of your summers!

So,

do you remember

the best summer

of your life?

It would be

such a gift

if you'd share

it

with

me.

[images: 1, 8 google

2-7, 9-11,12-14 my space

13, 16 flickr {click for attribution}

15 P&H]

Posted in books , memories , music , summer