Introduction

CAPTIVATING HISTORICAL FICTION

The fascinating saga of Palm Beach's Breakers Hotel includes its conversion to a World War II army hospital, where over a dozen babies were born. Passions and Fires will forever change the lives of three women, including a Russian-Jewish immigrant, whose heartrending journeys weave through the timeline of the resort.

It is February 1942, just months after the bombing of Pearl Harbor. Addie, the daughter of the assistant manager of the most beautiful resort in America, lives at The Breakers Hotel. Walking the beach, she and her friend, Natalie, are bemoaning their world becoming devoid of its young men, as they are called to serve. And then the girls witness an explosion. German submarines have begun torpedoing Allied merchant ships right off the Atlantic shore. Soon, the area becomes one of the most active military centers in the nation, with thousands of soldiers stationed right at their doorstep in Palm Beach County.

In February 1975, Manhattanite Beth Morgan is distraught over a broken engagement. Her society mother dismisses her problem and insists that Beth accompany her to Florida. When they join an historical hotel tour while waiting for their suite at The Breakers, Beth’s mother has a strange reaction to the handsome docent’s words, and Beth begins to wonder if that is why they have come. Could she have been one of the babies born at the Breakers Hotel? From the story of Addie’s alluring mother, Rebecca, a Russian Jewish immigrant in the 1920s, whose fiancé disappears when she follows him to America, to the tragedy of Natalie’s boyfriend in the war, it is a tale of love and loss, separations and reunions, guilt and absolution. It is a story of the American Dream and the power of passion.

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Excerpt

Two in the afternoon was the exact time of day Addie most loved to stroll along the ocean shore, seeking the little treasures that the vibrant waves of the high tide would magically churn out onto the sand before retreating for the next swell. But on this day, Addie was only hoping to find her intriguing new friend, Natalie Evington, who she knew would be having her Saturday run. And when she came into view, Addie darted toward her with a great intensity, fueled by anger and insult.

“Do you think I have a cruel heart?” she asked Natalie, as she caught up with her to run in tandem.

Natalie turned towards the voice and smiled. “Hardly, Addie. I don’t believe anyone would think you had a cruel heart.”

“My mother thinks so,” Addie insisted.

“Your mother?” Natalie shot back, with a dubious voice. “She’s too sweet to have ever said a mean word to you.”

“But she did now,” Addie insisted. “She said that my heart was . . . I don’t quite remember . . .unsympathetic, and something else . . . and she used a very disappointed tone.” Already Addie, not in the same athletic shape as the older girl she admired, was struggling to keep up with her pace. At five foot three, she could hardly emulate the long strides of someone taller and leaner than herself, someone blessed with the perfect feminine body proportions of length and curves that turned every masculine head in their direction while they made their way past the sunbathers. As always, Natalie appeared oblivious to her magnetic attraction, to the conversations she halted, the books that were quickly set aside, the footballs that were no longer being tossed around but held instead crooked in arms, as they passed one group after another.

By her friend’s side, Addie, self-consciously, pulled down on the length of the skirt bottom of her swimsuit and rounded her shoulders to hide the embarrassment of the newly emerging contours of her bustline. But Natalie, though she slowed down to be more aligned with Addie, seamlessly continued with their conversation, her head held high, her broad shoulders arched back to maintain her perfect posture, with no concern that she was accentuating that very attribute that Addie tried to obscure.

“Now, Addie, what, exactly, did you say to your mother that brought that on?” Natalie questioned.

“I said I was upset that the cute young men will all be going off to war.” Addie stopped running, bent her knees and rested her hands on her thighs, as she tried to catch her breath. She was glad when Natalie glanced around over her shoulder with an understanding smile and backtracked a few yards.

“I know what I said was selfish. I know that they will be fighting for ‘a greater good.’ We hear that phrase all the time.” She paused again for one more inhalation. “But did it have to be now? Did it have to be right now, when I am just about to turn sixteen and become part of the real world – your world – with opportunities to go to dances, and maybe even on dates?”

This was to have been Addie’s year, her glorious, wonderful year of attending events, instead of just watching balls from behind curtains. In years before, she had longingly observed as, one after another, the society girls coming down from New York brought their suitcases and travel trunks stuffed with beautiful debutante gowns for one more wear in the winter season. She had even helped her mother arrange for those gowns to be altered just so much here or there, adjusting a sleeve or collar for comfort and practicality in the heat of the Florida sun. Since she had been thirteen, she had sometimes been the one to return the clothes to the guest rooms. And when she hung them in the closets, she would linger there, gazing at, touching, sometimes even smelling the bouquet of dresses that she saw. The guests didn’t know who she was, really, and would often order her around as if she were merely a young hotel maid, and not the daughter of the assistant manager of the grandest resort in America, The Breakers of Palm Beach, Florida.

Natalie finally stopped running, and she turned to give Addie the full attention she craved. At almost twenty years old, she spoke to her like a wizened older sister. “Well, you know what I am wondering? Was the word your mother said ‘foolish’? Did she say that you had a ‘foolish heart’? That would be more believable.” She paused, momentarily, adding, “and it’s true, and I do agree.”

“Agree with my mother?”

“No, I agree with you,” Natalie answered, shaking her head with the same frustration of her young friend, realizing that so much of the joy of her envisioned future would be placed on hold because of circumstances beyond their control. “Makes me sad. Right now, right at my time, too, how did it happen that all the men are gone? I thought this next year could be my escape.”

Addie was surprised at this admission. She saw Natalie only as the most perfect, stunning, and self-confident person, and felt so lucky that they had recently become friends, occasionally spending time together at the beach when Addie was out of school on the weekends. Natalie, having finished three semesters at Bryn Mawr, the women’s college in Pennsylvania that had been her mother’s alma mater, finally admitted to her father that she wasn’t really happy there. When Natalie was fifteen, her mother lost her fight to cancer. Although Natalie tried to follow in her mother’s educational footsteps, her own prints were ground deeply in the Florida sand. She had enjoyed her classes and done well, but she had tired of the all-girl environment and the cold northeastern winters. She was anxious to return to her sunny hometown. For the past few months, she was freelancing articles on Palm Beach life for a local tourist magazine owned by one of her father’s friends, and she planned to apply to the University of Miami for the fall term.

“Escape from what, Natalie? From your wonderful life in your huge home? I don’t think I exaggerate when I say you live in a beautiful mansion.”

Natalie shook her head and skirted Addie’s gaze, as if searching for her words in the cloudless sky. “You could say it’s a mansion, yes. But I don’t feel at home there anymore, not for some time now.” There was a sadness in this answer that Addie could recognize, though not truly understand. But before she could question it, Natalie challenged her. “How about you? And you are one to talk – actually living at The Breakers Hotel.”

“A hotel though,” Addie replied, quickly. “Not quite a home.”

Each girl looked at the other curiously, thinking that there would be a wealth of conversations ahead, when they heard the loud and low toned pitch of a boy’s voice calling out from a distance. “Addie . . . hey, Addie, wait up!”

“Oh my God, that’s Nathan Bernstein. I don’t even have to turn to recognize the voice,” Addie said.

The girls shaded their eyes and squinted in his direction. “You must know him. He looks pretty cute and tall from here,” Natalie said.

“Oh, I know him. But you’re wrong. He is gawky, and he follows me everywhere. I think he spies on me, because it is too coincidental to run into someone so many times. But never on the beach. You’ll see. He is a shade lighter than pale. He doesn’t look like someone who can take the sun. Just continue walking – ignore him. He’s such a child.”

Natalie laughed. “Obviously, he has a crush on you.” Addie waved her comment away with the gesture of an overzealous fly swat, but Natalie persisted. “I don’t know. I see already that he has a cute mop of dark hair. And I don’t think he is quite a child. I say our age, maybe a year older. You should go with it,” she instructed. “Remember – our choices are limited now.”

“Well,” Addie said, as she paused to consider it. “I guess I can’t argue with that. But I wish he were even a little older, and then he could go to war.” She looked up at Natalie with a smirk on her face, triumphant with her remark. And then she thought about her words. “Oh no, I didn’t mean that. I didn’t mean anyone should have to bear the awful risks of war.” She was working hard to retract her statement, with great regret.

“Exactly what I told you, earlier,” Natalie said, laughing and putting her arm around the younger girl. “No one would ever say you had a cruel heart.”

“And I know why he wants to hang with me,” Addie continued. “It’s the commonality. I understand it. I feel it, too – another Jewish person around here. That is a rare find. I know him from our temple. But still . . . just ignore him when he comes up. You don’t even have to look at him.”

Natalie just shook her head and laughed at Addie. “You are so silly. I have a feeling that someday . . .someday soon . . .you may feel different.”

Addie was grateful to see that Nate had stopped along the way to toss a ball around with some younger children who were playing catch, allowing the girls more time alone to talk. “Well then, could you teach me?” Addie pleaded to Natalie, “teach me how to act when someone acceptable might be interested? Before the guys started leaving, I saw how they all wanted to be with you.” Suddenly, Addie was shy to say what was on her mind and so she took in a deep breath, first. “I’ve never been kissed, you know.”

“Sweet sixteen and never been kissed?”

“It’s true. Well, not sixteen quite yet, so there is still hope.” Addie looked intently at Natalie now. “How about you, when was your first kiss?”

Natalie thought for a moment and shook her head. And then she laughed. “I think it was seventh grade – just typical of anyone’s juvenile memory – spin the bottle – it had nothing to do with romance.”

“Oh no, I want my first real kiss to be so memorable,” Addie whined. And then she thought about it. “I guess I should feel sorrier for you than me. It’s not like I could actually go out with the boys, the men, who are off to the army. I’m not old enough for them. But this could be my year of dating the high school boys.”

At this point, Nathan appeared at their backs, surprising them with a “Hey, Addie, I could be your first date.”

When she turned to his voice, this time Addie focused on the thick brown hair that Natalie had complimented and, to Nate’s surprise, she was less dismissive of him than ever. He couldn’t believe it. Addie was looking right at him and doing so without rolling her eyes. She never did that. She actually seemed to be looking into his eyes, and so he took it as an invitation to do the same, to study her beautiful brown eyes, incredibly intriguing and disproportionately large for her petite frame. He was in heaven. That was, until he realized that she was not looking at his eyes, but moreso, at his hair. “Oh my God,” he said, “Is there a bug crawling around up there?” He made a quick jerking motion, and then rifled his fingers through his thick curls and shook his head so that his waves danced from side to side and would release any errant creature.

“See what I mean,” Addie whispered to Natalie, who started to laugh at the comedy of it. “Could you please try to act normal?” Addie whined at Nate. “I want to introduce you to someone. This is my friend, Natalie.” Nate, who had been nervously sneaking peeks at Addie in her swimsuit, had not even noticed the girl standing beside her, who he now saw looked like a fashion model, and he would later berate himself for his overreaction.

“Wow! Pleased to meet you,” Nate said, eying Natalie from head to toe.

“Down, boy,” Addie cautioned. “You’d have to stand in line for her.”

Natalie smiled at him and gave Addie a surreptitious wink of approval. “And pleased to meet you, as well,” she said, extending her hand to Nate to set him at ease.

They all began walking the shore together, coming up to an area where the smooth beach sand gave way to a rocky patch. Addie bent down to pick up a perfectly formed seashell of a most formidable size, bearing not even the slightest chip and roaring the ocean’s voice when she placed it close to her ear. She held it out briefly to show them, and then she just gingerly laid it back on the sand. “Let some excited eight-year-old tourist find that one – I’m well over those. I’m only looking for the most interesting items possible.”

“Yeah, Addie,” Nate said, mockingly, “You want to be the one to find a message chiseled into a board from a shipwrecked vessel which floats its way to our shore. ‘I’ve been trapped on Jupiter Island since 1912 – Please send help!’” He leaned into her and laughed, and she slapped at his arm.

“No, something more interesting,” Addie insisted, “jewelry from an old ship crushed by the rocks in the last century, maybe.” Then she shook her head, laughing at herself, and suspended the reverie. “Anyway, Nate, what are you doing over here?”

“Have you heard it? That’s what I came to tell you.”

“Heard what?” the girls asked, simultaneously.

“I don’t know. It’s like I’ve been hearing sounds in the distance. They almost sound like explosions to me.”

“You know, it would certainly be the far distance,” Addie shrugged. “You don’t have to worry about that. You can’t hear the fighting in Europe from here.”

“I know that, but . . . it’s almost like I’ve felt vibrations with it. The first one was late yesterday, and I can’t stop thinking about it.”

“Maybe you’re imagining it. We’ve all had nightmares since Pearl Harbor, Nate,” Natalie added with an almost motherly concern.

“That’s for sure. But I don’t think it’s just in my mind. I’ve always had a very acute sense of hearing.”

Now Addie did roll her eyes, addressing her comments to Natalie. “He’s told me that before. He thinks because of his poor eyesight that his other senses have become more heightened.” As Addie said this, Nate self-consciously pushed his glasses to rest higher on the bridge of his nose. “The truth is I think he just wants to be a part of it, pretend that he is part of the war effort.”

The three continued walking with an easy camaraderie, until Addie ran to a shiny object that turned out to be a compass. She placed it in the small backpack she always carried, dangling from one shoulder. It often held a potpourri of items she would discover on any beach walk, sometimes coins or unique shells, sometimes rings or bracelets that she would later drop off at the hotel’s lost and found.

“Well, I do.” Nate suddenly interjected, touching Natalie’s shoulder to gain her attention. “I’m just seventeen, but I do want to be part of the war effort.” He stopped walking and stood with his head down. “The men in my family are all involved, and it’s scary.” He coughed out the last word, as if stifling a slight cry. “My brothers have gone to training camps, ready to ship out soon. My dad’s away with his engineering firm’s government contracts. And now, I feel like I have to do something, but I’m too young to enlist.”

He tried to stand taller again, facing Addie, and then turning slightly to direct his words to Natalie. “I know that Addie rejoices in making fun of me for that, well, really for everything. But I like to be a part of things going on. I have a need to understand things.”

“Addie, you should reconsider your criticism,” Natalie admonished her. “Those are good traits in a person.”

“And I really have an interest in the construction of things,” Nate continued. “Got that from my dad. And maybe I do know an easy explanation for the sounds. Maybe they’re doing blastings to make sandbars and add rocks to stop the waves before they come to shore and batter the buildings. Think about your hotel name, The Breakers. Maybe it’s . . .”

And then there was the truly unmistakable sound of an explosion. Nate abruptly stopped talking and they all turned to the north and watched as a plume of fire and smoke rose from the water, well before the horizon. view abbreviated excerpt only...

Discussion Questions

From the author:

1. How did Nate’s encounter with the injured man on the beach in 1942 give direction to the man he would become?

2. Contrast Rebecca’s two love interests, Jacob Schaevitz and Harrison Abelman. How did Rebecca display her strength as a survivor through the years?

3. One of my favorite techniques as an author is having my characters interact with actual persons in the historical timeline. Give examples of this happening in the novel.

4. Addie and Natalie first become friends in 1942. How does the older girl influence Addie and how do they each look to Addie’s mother, Rebecca, as a role model?

5. How does Rebecca ultimately help resolve the root of Kathryn Morgan’s physical issue, when Kathryn demands that her daughter, Beth, accompany her to The Breakers in 1975?

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