A Ritchie Boy Read online

  My gratitude extends to many others.

  To my husband, Frank, my first reader and biggest advocate. I am so lucky to have a partner so steadfast and encouraging of my writing.

  To Ellen Lesser whose expert guidance and encouragement over the years helped me become a better novelist. I am also grateful to Matt Bondurant, Tom Jenks, and the late Lee K. Abbott for valuable feedback during early workshops of stories in A Ritchie Boy. To my beta readers Davi Blake, Nick Breyfogle, Carole Gerber, Joy Gonsiorowski, Pat Losinski, Leann Schneider, Richard VanGuilder, and Alec Wightman for their commitment of time and thoughtful feedback.

  I wish to acknowledge OSU Libraries Reference Archivist Michelle Drobik. Her helpful assistance led me to a trove of historic photographs and documents that immeasurably added to my rich understanding of campus life at Ohio State University in the 1940s as the country prepared for war, and at the time when protagonist Eli Stoff attended college there. In addition, OSU Eastern European scholar Nick Breyfogle was always willing to take my calls to verify particular facts of the broader history of the World War II era.

  I so appreciate the capable team at She Writes Press led by Brooke Warner, and all the talented professionals who played a role in transforming A Ritchie Boy from manuscript to the book you now hold. Many thanks to Barrett Briske, Katie Caruana, Krissa Lagos, Tabitha Lahr, Julie Metz, and my diligent editorial manager Lauren Wise. Heartfelt thanks to my publicist Caitlin Hamilton Summie, and to Bryan Azorsky, Alex Baker, Lucinda Dyer, and Libby Jordan.

  I am deeply grateful to those who took the time to read my manuscript and endorse it: Nina Barrett, Jennifer Chiaverini, Fiona Davis, Alex George, Kristin Harmel, Pamela Klinger-Horn, Julia Keller, Pat Losinski, Lee Martin, Stewart O’Nan, Helen Schulman, and Linda White.

  My love and gratefulness to my extraordinary family, and family of friends, whose support I treasure every day.

  To the memory of my Vienna-born father, Ernest Stern, to whom this novel is dedicated. His role as a Ritchie Boy, and the details of his early life, sparked this work of fiction.

  READER’S GUIDE

  1. Why do you think the author told the novel in stories? What do the stories allow that a novel told in traditional form would not? Have you read other novels with this structure?

  2. Eli and his parents were lucky to escape Austria. How else does luck play a role in this novel?

  3. Did you know about the Ritchie Boys prior to reading this novel? If not, were you surprised to learn that there is still history about World War II that is not widely known?

  4. This novel is inspired by the author’s father’s life. Kass wrote an earlier novel inspired by her mother’s life. If you have not already done so, will you now go read Tasa’s Song? If you have read Tasa’s Song, how do the two work together?

  5. This novel is about family: the family one has and the family one creates. Discuss.

  6. The Ritchie Boys were heroes. Does this novel have other heroes? How do you define a hero?

  7. Although the experience as a Ritchie Boy was formative, Eli didn’t talk much about it after the war. Indeed, there were pictures of his time at Camp Ritchie with people his daughter did not know. Why do you think such a powerful experience was left, by and large, unexpressed?

  8. This is an immigrant story, and there are many immigrant stories. How is this novel similar to other immigrant stories you’ve read? How is it different?

  9. How does this novel portray friendships? Why are friendships pivotal to the narrative?

  10. Place is important in this book. In what ways does the author tell her story by describing Austria, New York, Columbus, Camp Ritchie, and Le Vésinet?

  CREDITS

  IT DON’T MEAN A THING (IF IT AIN’T GOT THAT SWING)

  Music by DUKE ELLINGTON

  Words by IRVING MILLS

  Copyright © 1932 (Renewed) EMI MILLS MUSIC, INC. and SONY/ATV MUSIC PUBLISHING LLC

  Exclusive Print Rights for EMI MILLS MUSIC, INC. Administered by

  ALFRED MUSIC

  All Rights Reserved

  Used By Permission of ALFRED MUSIC

  IT DON’T MEAN A THING (IF IT AIN’T GOT THAT SWING)

  Words and Music by Duke Ellington and Irving Mills

  Copyright (c) 1932 Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC and EMI Mills

  Music, Inc. in the U.S.A.

  Copyright Renewed

  All Rights on behalf of Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC Administered

  by Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, 424 Church Street, Suite 1200,

  Nashville, TN 37219

  Rights for the world outside the U.S.A. Administered by EMI Mills

  Music, Inc. (Publishing) and Alfred Music (Print)

  International Copyright Secured All Rights Reserved

  Reprinted by Permission of Hal Leonard LLC

  IT’S MAGIC

  Words by SAMMY CAHN

  Music by JULE STYNE

  Copyright © 1948 (Renewed) WC MUSIC CORP.

  All Rights Reserved

  Used By Permission of ALFRED MUSIC

  UNTIL

  By Bob Crosby, Jack Fulton and Hunter Kahler

  Copyright (c) 1945 by Onyx Music Corporation

  Copyright Renewed

  All Rights Administered by Music Sales Corporation

  International Copyright Secured All Rights Reserved

  Used by Permission

  Reprinted by Permission of Hal Leonard LLC

  BUT NONE LIKE YOU

  Words and Music by Ray Noble

  Copyright (c) 1948 Sands Music Corp.

  Copyright Renewed

  All Rights Reserved Used by Permission

  Reprinted by Permission of Hal Leonard LLC

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  Author photo © Lorn Spolter

  LINDA KASS began her career as a magazine writer and correspondent for regional and national publications. Her work has previously appeared in TIME, the Detroit Free Press, Columbus Monthly, and, more recently, Full Grown People, The MacGuffin, and Kenyon Review Online. She is the author of the historical World War II novel Tasa’s Song (2016) and is the founder and owner of Gramercy Books, an independent bookstore in central Ohio.

  lindakass.com

  SELECTED TITLES FROM SHE WRITES PRESS

  She Writes Press is an independent publishing company founded to serve women writers everywhere. Visit us at www.shewritespress.com.

  An Address in Amsterdam by Mary Dingee Fillmore. $16.95, 978-1-63152-133-1. After facing relentless danger and escalating raids for 18 months, Rachel Klein—a well-behaved young Jewish woman who transformed herself into a courier for the underground when the Nazis invaded her country—persuades her parents to hide with her in a dank basement, where much is revealed.

  Don’t Put the Boats Away by Ames Sheldon. $16.95, 978-1-63152-602-2. In the aftermath of World War II, the members of the Sutton family are reeling from the death of their “golden boy,” Eddie. Over the next twenty-five years, they all struggle with loss, grief, and mourning—and pay high prices, including divorce and alcoholism.

  Tasa’s Song by Linda Kass. $16.95, 978-1-63152-064-8. From a peaceful village in eastern Poland to a partitioned post-war Vienna, from a promising childhood to a year living underground, Tasa’s Song celebrates the bonds of love, the power of memory, the solace of music, and the enduring strength of the human spirit.

  Even in Darkness by Barbara Stark-Nemon. $16.95, 978-1-63152-956-6. From privileged young German-Jewish woman to concentration camp refugee, Kläre Kohler navigates the horrors of war and—through unlikely sources—finds the strength, hope, and love she needs to survive.

  Bess and Frima by Alice Rosenthal. $16.95, 978-1-63152-439-4. Bess and Frima, best friends from the Bronx, find romance at their summer jobs at Jewish vacation hotels in the Catskills—and as love mixes with war, politics, creative ambitions, and the mysteries of personality, they leave girlhood behind them.

  A Ritchie Boy