The inspiration for this fictional book is a woman named Margaret Fishback, who was the highest-paid female advertising copywriter during the 1930s based on her work for R.H. Macy’s. She was a published poet and a feminist. The author learned of her from Angela McClendon Ossar, her high school friend who became the archivist for Fishback’s papers when they were donated to the university where Ossar was working to earn a Master’s degree in library science. It’s important to have this background, otherwise, this woman’s life would seem too unlikely for fiction.
The story of her life unfolds through a long walk she takes on New Year’s Eve in 1984, when the 85-year-old Lillian walks for miles in her beloved New York City where she has spent her life. Her memories, evoked by the landmarks she passes, and the adventures of 1984 she has along the way, were an unusual and effective way to learn about Lillian/Margaret and to enjoy the city. The author brings us the city of 1926 when Lillian arrived, to the rough times in 1984, the year the Subway Vigilante personified the fears of crime in the city.
Lilian escaped her family and stuffy Washington, DC to make her fortune in NYC. She first lived in the Christian Women’s Hotel (perhaps a YWCA?) until she landed a job writing copy for the biggest department store in the world, R.H. Macy’s. She had lived in many parts of the city, but when she set out for her early dinner wearing her beautiful mink coat, she was living in Murray Hill. Unfortunately during a phone conversation with her son and his children, she had absent-mindedly eaten a shocking number of Oreo cookies and was unable to eat dinner. After having a drink, she kept walking, passing landmarks such as the Strand bookstore at Twelfth and Broadway which she had been frequenting since the 1930s when it was on Fourth Avenue. We learn that she met her husband when she bought a rug at Macy’s, where he was the head buyer for the rug department. They married in 1935 and had what seemed like a lovely sophisticated life but 20 years later Lillian was in a sanitarium and only recovered after shock therapy.
She made her way to Delmonico’s where she and Max had a meal after their marriage had ended. She had not been able to eat that one, so she decided to have a do-over steak. She didn’t want the evening to end, so she kept walking to a friend’s house in Chelsea who was having a party. She stopped at a bodega for a gift for her friend and the young Philippine man suggested a surprisingly successful gift and they struck up a conversation. She learned he worked overnight so his parents wouldn’t in this unsafe neighborhood. When she paid him, she learned she had more cash than expected and gave it to him, saying it was unsafe for her to carry so much cash.
Her last adventure came after the party, as she walked home and was accosted by four young Black men. Having no money, she offered to exchange her mink for one of their coats, and survived the event dignity intact. Her last stop was in front of the main entrance of R.H. Macy’s, “the one with the clock face and the caryatids,…the carved women acting as pillars for the World’s Largest Store.”
Lillian/Margaret seems to have lived more than one life and all of that is revealed to us in crisp, clever prose.
Kathleen Rooney, Lillian Boxfish Takes a Walk, St. Martin’s Press, 2017, 287 pages (I read the kindle version). Available in the public library.