It Was Her New York, in photo-illustrated true stories, follows Florence, a pissed-off hurricane of an unwealthy lesbian and Juilliard-trained pianist, stumbling into dementia and fighting all the way, as her youngest daughter, author Moed juggles chainsaws to hold off the inevitable.
A bewildering and abrupt decline leaves Florence suddenly refusing to leave her bed. Moed, reluctantly caring for her mother, uncovers stories of undying love, a hidden sixty-year lesbian affair, all the struggles of being old and gay, amid memories of a city disappearing into gentrification. Yet she does not go this alone. Fellow New Yorkers - the bus drivers, train conductors, fellow passengers, neighbors, cab drivers and co-workers – join her as she struggles to protect Florence, sharing their own lives, hopes and dreams. What emerges from the many tales of emergency rooms, battered parks, taxi rides, subways and office cubicles, are humorous, gritty and universal stories about family, home and love, told with the indomitable moxie of those who claim New York as their own. At the end, Moed discovers the meaning of family and how the heart endures.
**
The topics of growing old, love in the pre-Stonewall Gay and Lesbian community, the experiences of my fellow New Yorkers, immigrant, native-born and from every walk of life, along with the landscape of an ever-changing city are hugely important to me, and I chose to showcase these in a combination that feels like a memoir married with a graphic novel. This rare fusion brings visibility not only to New York’s diverse and underrepresented communities—particularly queer elderly women—but also highlight the men and women who, seeking the American Dream, keep our nation’s cities running.
Through lyric, pointedly iconoclastic prose and a soulful mosaic of photographs, Moed offers a riveting exploration of a mother-daughter relationship so colored by love and care that it transcends familial dysfunction, past hurts, and imperfections. With welcome candor, insight, and sensitivity, Moed bears witness to the decline of the cognitive abilities of her mother, Florence, due to dementia, a phenomenon that she initially misconstrues for more of her mother's established behavior: "None of us really understood that things were changing for Florence. She seemed as she always had been." Yet, over time, Moed finds herself clutching onto those rare moments where her mother truly is the mother she always knew. "I lean in, hoping my body acts like a magnet for her words but she is fading." Moed places Florence at the heart of New York City—their home—and deftly mirrors the gradual erosion of her mother's memory with the incremental disintegration of the fabric of the city she has long known. "I wanted to take a picture,” she writes, “to capture one last portrait of my childhood before it disappeared into thin air." Striking, moving photographs capture fleeting moments in Moed's life in the never-sleeping: vanishing storefronts, the phone lady, passersby, Coney Island, emergency rooms, the ebb and flow of neighborhoods, even the view from under the family’s Steinway baby grand. These captured moments and Moed’s vivid vignettes (that piano’s “place in [Florence’s] world was as permanent as sky or sun or her fingers, which were ferocious and strong until her last breath”) demonstrate the powerful connection between Moed, Florence, the city, and her music.
While deeply personal, It Was Her New York is universally relatable, an elegy that beckons readers to contemplate their own relationships and the ever-changing world. It’s a kaleidoscope of childhood, family, music, and the passage of time. Moed honors Florence’s legacy as a passionate pianist, frugal teacher, fearless lesbian, lover, and mother, fixed in time.
Takeaway: Beautiful, moving memories of a mother, in words and snapshots.
Comparable Titles: Meghan O’Rourke’s The Long Goodbye, Nina Riggs's The Bright Hour.
Production grades
Cover: A
Design and typography: A
Illustrations: A
Editing: A-
Marketing copy: A
