Local Video
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| Local is character in a book |
By: DAVID HENKE, Staff Writer
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Posted: Friday, June 5, 2009 9:12 pm
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NORTHFIELD — For much of her life, Northfield resident Kelly Zwagerman has shared a 40-year friendship with 10 other women from her high school.
They’ve been there for each other through cancer, divorces and death. They have shared summer jobs and stories about high school romance, and they have attended each other’s weddings.
Now, that decades-long bond is the subject of a New York Times bestseller book, “The Girls from Ames,” written by Wall Street Journal columnist Jeffrey Zaslow. The book traces the bond between all 11 women, who are now in their late 40s, and is a candid testament to the strength of women’s friendships.
Zwagerman, who first met Zaslow in the fall of 2006, has a somewhat philanthropic view of her work with Zaslow on the book. A self-described women’s advocate, Zwagerman felt that speaking openly with Zaslow about difficult life experiences, including an abortion and her divorce, would help women in similar situations and spark open discussions about women’s issues.
“I wanted the book to be about women’s issues in women’s lives — real lives, not sugarcoated lives,” Zwagerman said. “Sometimes people are ashamed of these experiences, but it’s the reality of our lives, we should want to talk about things like this.”
In a Wall Street Journal column, Zaslow said the subject of the book was inspired by an e-mail that he received from Jenny Litchman — one of Zwagerman’s close friends — describing her relationship with Zwagerman and the others. The e-mail intrigued Zaslow so much that he took a leave of absence to meet with the women, conducted numerous interviews with them over a two-year span, and eventually wrote the biography of the group.
Since the book was published, Zwagerman has received letters and correspondences from women as far away as California and Maryland, many of whom were able to relate to Zwagerman, who currently teaches in the Faribault School District.
“I hear from people almost daily,” Zwagerman said. “As long as I could be involved in the project, I wanted to make sure something good could come from it.”
— David Henke can be reached at dhenke@northfieldnews.com or 645-1100. |
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