Showing posts with label Chicago. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Chicago. Show all posts

It's coming!

Our novel is coming out in a little over two months! Here's what the publisher says about it:

In 1928, Chicago rocks to the rhythm of the Jazz Age, and Prohibition's in full swing. Small-town girl Marjorie Corrigan [that's me!], visiting the city for the first time, has sworn that coffee's the strongest thing that will pass her lips. But her quiet, orderly life turns topsy-turvy when she spots her high school sweetheart--presumed killed in the Great War--alive and well in a train station. Suddenly everything seems up for grabs.

Although the stranger insists he's not who she thinks he is, Marjorie becomes obsessed with finding out the truth. To the dismay of her fiance and family, she moves to the city and takes a job at a department store so she can spy on him. Meanwhile, the glittering world of her roommate, Dot, begins to look awfully enticing--especially when the object of her obsession seems to be part of that world. Is it really that terrible to bob her hair and shorten her skirt? To visit a speakeasy? Just for coffee, of course.

But what about her scruples? What about the successful young doctor to whom she's engaged, who keeps begging her to come back home where she belongs? And what, exactly, is going on at the store's loading dock so late at night?

Amid a whirlwind of trials and temptations, Marjorie must make a choice. Will the mystery man prove to be the cream in her coffee--the missing ingredient to the life she years for? Or will he leave only bitterness in her heart? [Well, I'm certainly not going to spill the beans. You'll just have to read the book and find out!]

Join the Cream Team! I'm told that the purpose of the Cream Team is to help launch the novel into the reader-sphere by reading a pre-pub PDF edition, reviewing it on Amazon and/or Goodreads, recommending it to others, talking it up on social media, and (last but certainly not least) praying for the project and its author. :) [Here in the 1920s, I don't know what all those strange terms mean--PDF? social media? But it all sounds impressive, doesn't it?]In return you get Jennifer's undying gratitude (and mine), plus some nifty bonuses and prizes along the way, including 2 copies of the print edition to keep or share with friends.

If you'd like to join the Cream Team, mail an electronic message to Jennifer at jenny@jenniferlamontleo.com Apparently this is the 21st-century equivalent of dialing her up on the telephone.

XOXOXO
Marjorie

The Christmas Robe: A Roaring Twenties Short Story

Well, whaddya know? A Christmas short story starring ME! It's set in the 1920s at Chicago's Marshall Field & Co. at Christmastime...what could be better?

I hear "The Christmas Robe" is available on Amazon (although why I don't know, because it has absolutely nothing to do with the world's longest river...in fact, there's no river in it at all...), but you can obtain a copy FREE from the author's website.

I hope you enjoy this story about the time I coveted something special for Christmas, and wound up with a gift that was better than I could imagine.

Gotta run . . . big sale on bay rum, and I still need gifts for Pop and Charlie!

Toodles,

Marjorie

A Black Friday Adventure

Photo courtesy ChuckmanChicagoNostalgia.wordpress.com
Good glory! I stepped off the streetcar onto State Street yesterday and nearly got trampled by hordes of people laden with bundles! "What on earth is going on?" I shouted as I toppled into a (remarkably handsome) man. He told me it was something called Black Friday, when stores have the most marvelous sales and people celebrate by emptying their bank accounts.

"Well, for heaven's sake," I said as I regained my bearings, "Back in my day we had a Black Tuesday which emptied people's bank accounts, but there was certainly nothing to celebrate about that." The man explained that "Black Friday" is a good thing, that retailers count on the day to literally put them "in the black" for the year as people start their Christmas shopping and snap up bargains.


I suddenly felt inspired to do a bit of Christmas shopping of my own. Did I mention that the man smelled awfully nice? He disappeared into the crowd before I had a chance to ask him what he was wearing, but I zipped over to Field's and headed straight for the gentlemen's cologne counter to purchase something grand for Pop. The array of choices was dazzling, but in the end I settled on something familiar. (Pop is very wary of what he calls "new-fangled" things.) I selected a bottle of Aqua Velva shaving lotion, which originated in 1929 and is something he will actually wear. Did you know Aqua Velva was originally introduced as an alcohol-based mouthwash? 
It was so economical that I picked up a bottle for my brother Charlie, too. Now I'm off to find a gift for my sister Helen. She's fifteen years old--any bright ideas?

Enjoy your shopping, kiddos, and don't take any wooden nickels!
Marjorie