This coming Thursday, I'll be down at the Constitution Center being interviewed for the still-to-be-titled Sam Katz documentary on Philadelphia. I'll be talking about one of my favorite Philadelphians of all time, the philanthropist and Public Ledger editor, George Childs, and about a period of time (the late 19th century) that has forever captured my own imagination.
Yesterday, while speaking with one of the film's producers—while trying again to conjure Philadelphia at what I feel was its most glorious—my thoughts sifted back toward this passage from my novel-in-progress:
Katherine climbs and tells no one where she is. She climbs looking for her end, her final day. She’s climbed through February and March, through April and May, through seasons that cannot decide on the weather, confusing the tulips and squirrels and Katherine as well, who nevertheless finds her way. Sometimes Katherine leaves the house in a light wool dress with a scarf looped loose around her neck and then, of a sudden, the weather will change. In will blow an infiltrating wind and there Katherine will be on Belmont Hill, all the way up, on the highest tier of the Sawyer Observatory. She’ll secure the scarf around her chin and stay. She’ll stand until the city can be seized—the coves and hollows of the Centennial park; the spire of Saint Peter and Paul; the houses, theaters, marketplaces, banks set tight upon the city’s checkerboard squares; the bulbous steam above Baldwin Locomotives. She’ll stare out onto the Renaissance pile of City Hall—like a cake, she thinks, with excess butter cream. She’ll look for a clap of bakery flour. And it won’t matter how fiercely the weather blows: Katherine stands. She stands and dares herself to the very edge, almost but not quite losing her balance. Getting ready.
“Anna,” Katherine says aloud, “how could you?”
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By: Beth Kephart ,
on 3/7/2009
Blog: Beth Kephart Books (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
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By: Beth Kephart ,
on 3/7/2009
Blog: Beth Kephart Books (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Sam Katz, Philadelphia history, George Childs, 1876, Add a tag
9 Comments on Philadelphia 1876, last added: 3/9/2009
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Lovely.
I am breathless. You write so utterly beautifully. I've never been to Philadelphia, nor have I read any of your books. I will do both now. Thank you, Beth, for sharing.
Good luck with the interview! And I love the descriptions in your novel-in-progress.
I really wish I could write like you.
I can tell I'm going to like Katherine.
I gave you an award. Check it out at Bella is reading . . ..
Oh, dear readers.
How I do hope that Katherine finds her place between covers and that I might someday share her world with you.
Thank you.
And Maya: You already do.
I love the image of climbing through months.
I will certainly have to see this city someday for myself.
A tantalizing glimpse! Even though it's Katherine that we're seeing, I'm very intrigued by this Anna.