The Last Summer and Other Stories

A Rose Like No Other

This is a book about a time when things were as they were. It was not fake. Bad things were bad and dealt with. There wasn't a constant dread. What happened was done with. It did not become an obsession

The loss of the family fortune. Wars and abdications laid ruin to all trappings of wealth. The elders decided not to ever speak of what once was in the old country: the land in the Black Forest, the castle created by a family architect, the castle which is now one of the most famous tourist attractions, the abdication of a great uncle and the princess' arrival with the baron in Philadelphia. The wealth dispersed through real estate transactions in the well known buildings and businesses in New York City.

Businesses were founded which prospered or foundered. Large families were born into the new world. Some, like William Blemly, thrived in real estate. Great discussion groups, forerunner of the coffee klatche which drew the intellectuals, the artists, writers, leaders of the new legacies.