Summer Sale at Smashwords

Now is your best chance to find my book, Orphan Girl: The Memoir of a Chicago Bag Lady, available for HALF OFF at @Smashwords as part of their Annual Summer Sale! Find my book and many more at https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/chicagojane     all month! 

Review

"A homeless woman's story reminds us of the need to consider the suffering of others. Hertenstein's narrative . . . is a gift to us." Chicago Tribune, Sunday Book Section, March 15, 1998

From the Author

I had known Marie for about ten years before I did her story. She was a bag lady--not homeless as she had an apartment she shared with a number of cats. Marie could be seen daily pushing her cart around the neighborhood picking up stuff put out for trash and giving items away to people who needed them. Whenever she saw me she'd say, "Jane, someday I have to tell you my story." And I'd say, "Sure Marie, someday."

Well, during one of those exchanges we actually set up an appointment. It turned out to be like the hottest day on record. The windows were open and the air was heavy with the stench of rotting garbage wafting in from the alley dumpster. I wanted to cancel, but there was no way to call Marie. Marie arrived right on time pushing her cart filled with sour milk jugs and old newspapers. Cockroaches crawled in and out of old food stuff on her cart. It was all I could do not to abandon the project then and there. May as well get this over with, I thought.

Marie sat down and I turned on the tape recorder. And it was magic. The heat and smells went away. I began a journey in the cool Sand Hills of Nebraska. Marie's story transported me into another life and another time. It was a story that changed me.