The Boston Girl: A Novel

A Novel

By: Anita Diamant

Narrated by: Linda Lavin

2016 Audie Award Finalist for Best Female Narrator

New York Times bestseller

An unforgettable novel about a young Jewish woman growing up in Boston in the early twentieth century, told “with humor and optimism…through the eyes of an irresistible heroine” (People)—from the acclaimed author of The Red Tent.

Anita Diamant’s “vivid, affectionate portrait of American womanhood” (Los Angeles Times), follows the life of one woman, Addie Baum, through a period of dramatic change. Addie is The Boston Girl, the spirited daughter of an immigrant Jewish family, born in 1900 to parents who were unprepared for America and its effect on their three daughters. Growing up in the North End of Boston, then a teeming multicultural neighborhood, Addie’s intelligence and curiosity take her to a world her parents can’t imagine—a world of short skirts, movies, celebrity culture, and new opportunities for women. Addie wants to finish high school and dreams of going to college. She wants a career and to find true love. From the one-room tenement apartment she shared with her parents and two sisters, to the library group for girls she joins at a neighborhood settlement house, to her first, disastrous love affair, to finding the love of her life, eighty-five-year-old Addie recounts her adventures with humor and compassion for the naïve girl she once was.

Written with the same attention to historical detail and emotional resonance that made Diamant’s previous novels bestsellers, The Boston Girl is a moving portrait of one woman’s complicated life in twentieth century America, and a fascinating look at a generation of women finding their places in a changing world. “Diamant brings to life a piece of feminism’s forgotten history” (Good Housekeeping) in this “inspirational…page-turning portrait of immigrant life in the early twentieth century” (Booklist).

Excellent Performance!

This story draws one into the life of a turn of the century Boston young woman, born into a Jewish family, a girl whose life is filled with joy, loss, deep friendships, and love. The story is wonderful, but honestly, Linda Lavin’s performance brings such texture and authenticity! It was a delightful journey to another era and culture!

Heartwarming!

This book made me laugh, cry, feel like everything and nothing has changed in the intimate world of women when it comes to love, family, aging, rights, hopes, heartbreak, dreams and best friends. I was in it from the start. Loved everything about Linda Lavin’s narration and Anita Diamant’s tenderness and extreme honesty with delicate and sometimes atrocious subjects. I feel related to everyone in this novel and I’m not even Jewish!

Great except the gratuitous remarks

Why do people who consider themselves “progressives” continue to offend total strangers with politics that have no real place in what they are writing about? It is true that the main character and her husband pursued careers in social work and public interest law. The mere mention of what they did and how they pursued it was enough and totally character driven. There was no reason to tweak readers who are more conservative. This explains a lot about why there is so little harmony in our society.

Welcome to the past

This reading by Linda Lavin was flawless. She drew me in and I was part of the story. I wish I had spent more time asking questions and just listening to my Italian grandma. I’m sure the stories would parallel each other.

not great...not bad...

sweet story...immigrant history...finding one's place, one's people, one's self. not an exciting ride. meh...reader is famous actress, but the ny came through her attempted Boston accent.