Growing Pains With Grandma

Ever since Sydell could remember, she was part of a Bronx family of strong women-Grandma, Edna, Bertha and Lilly. Grandma was the rock of Sydell's world, her advisor, her shining example of good, and the greatest cook in the world. Edna, Sydell's mother, had wished that Sydell's father would permanently disappear from their lives after their divorce and, eventually, she got her wish. When Sydell's mother remarried, her new husband, Max, exiled Grandma from the kitchen, to Sydell's dismay. Sydell's aunts, Bertha and Lilly, used their strengths to maintain difficult relationships, no matter what.

On top of all that, there were growing-up problems that all girls must face. Sydell and her friend Rita found it difficult to have a social life and to find boyfriends during the Depression. It didn't help that Sydell's family moved so often in the city, always in search of a better apartment or a higher paying job. In one apartment, everyone was able to have her own bedroom, even Sydell. The down side was that the elevated trains rattled by right outside the apartment's windows, shaking everyone's teeth and drowning out their conversations. But when they moved out of the Bronx to a small Long Island town, there was a whole new set of noises. Not being accustomed to the quiet of country living, every sound from the woods made the women jump. When Sydell finally met Jack just before World War II, her life was changed forever.

Author Steven E. Danish's treatment of the characters is sympathetic. The fact that all their problems are not magically resolved accentuates the realism.