Nora Ephron

"""I can say, I believe with understandable pride, that I put Nora on a pedestal before the rest of you. I was seven years old, away from home for the first time, at summer camp in Arizona . . . and there was Nora, eleven years old, the undeniable star of the camp, showing the brilliance, the warmth, the wit, the spirit, the many facets and colors that would mark all her years. Doidge lets us accompany Nora on her journey, capturing all those qualities as well as her triumphs and heartbreaks, taking us behind the scenes of her life with understanding and insight. A masterful job."" Victoria Riskin, writer, producer, former president of the WGA ""With the astuteness of a journalist and the heart of a true film fan, Kristin Marguerite Doidge has written an important and compelling primer of the life and career of Nora Ephron. Doidge's delicious prose and deep empathy for her subject's complexity enable her to capture both the sunlight and the shadow of Ephron and reveal her to be a great inspiration : She was the daughter of prominent screenwriters who happened to also be difficult alcoholics, a twice-divorced mother who found the love of her life by being courageous enough to open her heart again, and a talented writer-director who brought two of the most significant romantic comedies in American history to the screen despite the odds being stacked against a woman succeeding. Ephron died in 2012, before the rampant adoption of social media, the Women's March, the most recent movement to close the gender pay gap, and a number of other significant cultural movements that would have likely galvanized her status as a leading feminist icon for another generation and beyond had she lived to participate in them. Now a decade after Ephron's death, we are lucky to have Doidge's reminder of the importance and beauty of Ephron's life and work, and how relevant they are to our current cultural conversations. This book is sure to inspire the next generation of Ephron fans to pick up her writing, turn on her films, and dream another dream of what is possible in their lives."" Holly Van Leuven, author of Ray Bolger: More than a Scarecrow"