Author and historian Philip B. Kunhardt, Jr. has scrap-booked the
life of his brilliant and very creative mother, Dorothy, through
memories and her own letters.

Most of the letters were written to Dorothy's roommate and best
friend Kate (they met in grade school) and to her husband Phil. Her
respect and support for the man who was to be her husband never
wavered, despite the complex problems of the Depression, which they
weathered early in their marriage.

It was the Depression and the deprivations the family underwent
that spurred Dorothy to become a writer. Putting it in perspective,
she and Phil were from a comfortable, educated milieu, and having
to live with only the maid --- and not both maid and nurse --- was
considered a hardship for a mother of that ilk. There is a telling
phase of their young lives when the couple decides to "simply
withdraw," that is, to live within their means in some lesser
suburb where they will not be tempted by meetings with their social
circle to overspend. It was apparently the respectable alternative
for the middle classes, a discreet way to manage a household
without becoming so dragged down by bills that one fell in
status.

Into this breach Dorothy, with the help of her friend (and her
maid), played with the idea of writing children's books, toiling
over her first effort as though it was worthy of the Pulitzer, and
suffering the humiliation of trying to illustrate it with but a
rudimentary understanding of drawing and a great deal of
determination. One of the children suggested she just do the
writing and let "a real person" do the drawing. After various fits
and starts, the book Junket was happily published and
enthusiastically reviewed.

In the background, as she struggled to earn extra money for the
family of four, Dorothy became pregnant. Knowing that the next
child would put an intolerable burden on her husband and herself,
she endeavored to abort it. Endangering her health and suffering
both physical and emotional trauma, she ultimately
miscarried.

Dorothy also vied with a "fierce, domineering" mother-in-law,
educated her children by starting her own school, developed as an
author (Pat the Bunny, and Twenty Days, co-authored with Phil Jr.),
struggled to overcome the requisite blocks and mini-depressions
that beset most highly creative people, and found ways to live on
once her beloved husband passed away.

All of this is told in letters that are indeed passionate, as
Dorothy was fond of saying, "beyond words." Luckily, her son found
the words to record her story. Dorothy's life serves as a challenge
to strong-willed yet feminine women who seek to reach beyond the
confines of duty and make a place for themselves in the wider
world.