About this item
As a child in 1913, Malka Treynovsky flees Russia for New York with her family--only to be crippled and abandoned in the streets. Taken in by a tough-loving Italian ices peddler, Malka survives. When she falls in love with Albert, they set off together across America in an ice cream truck to seek their fortune; slowly, she transforms herself into Lillian Dunkle, "The Ice Cream Queen of America"--doyenne of an empire of ice cream franchises and a celebrated television personality.Spanning 70 years, Lillian's rise--fraught with setbacks, triumphs, and tragedies--is inextricably linked to the course of American history itself, from Prohibition to the disco days of Studio 54. And when her past starts catching up with her, her world implodes spectacularly.
About the Author
Known for her unique combination of humor and depth, Susan Jane Gilman is the New York Times bestselling author of five books - the nonfiction "Kiss My Tiara," the memoirs "Hypocrite in a Pouffy White Dress," and "Undress Me in the Temple of Heaven," plus the novels "The Ice Cream Queen of Orchard Street" and her latest, "Donna Has Left the Building." Gilman has written for the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, the Daily Beast, Salon, The Guardian, Real Simple, and Ms. magazine, among others. She been a commentator for National Public Radio's "All Things Considered," and she has given a TEDx talk on the creative process, "There Is No Lightning Bolt." Her books have been published in a dozen languages. She won literary awards for her journalism and short fiction. She was also the recipient of a "Golden Earphones" Award for her Audiobook recording of "The Ice Cream Queen of Orchard Street."She once told an interviewer: "I never set out to write books that made people laugh. My main love has always been literary fiction. However, even with my darkest work, people always tell me that parts of it are funny. This used to annoy me because I aspired to be an American Dostoevsky with Breasts.Yet when I was living in Washington DC, I took a writers' workshop at the Bethesda Writers' Center. The first story I submitted was a heartbreaking tale of a man's addiction, which impressed the class. The second was an absurd story about mistaken identity full of Jews, Rastafarians, lesbians, and dental hygienists. To my great irritation, the class liked this one infinitely more. After class, a man pulled me aside. 'I have to tell you,' he said. 'My wife has been battling breast cancer. I read her your story last night, and it was the first time in two years she really laughed. You've got a gift. Please don't ignore it. Not everyone can make a sick woman laugh in her hospital bed.' That's when I finally saw the merit in my own, lurking smart-ass and stopped fighting it."Although she currently resides primarily in Switzerland, her heart and her feet are never far from her hometown of New York City.
