I talked to Sharon Ghamari-Tabrizi the other day about her work of fiction based on the lace world in New York in 1980. Sharon has only recently turned to fiction. She has done a great deal of scientific writing including a non-fiction book called "The Worlds of Herman Kahn: The Intuitive Science of Thermonuclear War"published by Harvard University Press. For her academic background, which is extensive, you can read her author page on Amazon here: https://www.amazon.com/Sharon-Ghamari-Tabrizi/e/B001IXMMSG When I talked to her she had already been reading the Needle and Bobbin Club bulletins available on line and knew a number of things about the lace world in New York in the 1980s. Most of the time when I read fictional books that include lacemaking in them, the author has not done much research and that is quite clear. I have even had authors who have written books that include lacemaking that serves some incidental role in the story line contact me after the book is written and ask me to verify that the thing they have made up could actually have happened. Clearly they are not going to rewrite the book when I tell them that it is completely unlikely. So, I appreciate that Sharon is trying to research her topic in a thorough way and write a book that is not just full of convenient suppositions about lacemaking. As we all know, it is a topic that is much more interesting than most people realize. What if Sharon's book becomes the Da Vinci Code of lacemaking? Imagine how many people will be interested in taking up lacemaking! Every minor museum will be dusting off their collections and calling for lace demonstrations. Local librarians will swoon at the idea of adult and children's lace lessons as part of their programming. It could be good for lacemaking. We are going to arrange a phone conversation with my colleague Gunnel who was at the Textile Study Room in the Met in the 1980s which will hopefully help Sharon. Things were very different then, as the Ratti Center was not in existence. I am looking forward to hearing what Gunnel has to say. As interest is growing in the lace world of the Downton Abby period, the memories of the 1970s and 1980s which is also a fascinating period of lace history are still there to be preserved. Jeri's collection, of course, is a valuable part of this era of history. A lot of people take their historical fiction seriously as historical fact, so it would be nice if we could assist Sharon in getting it right. Devon
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