Esther S. Schifferman
Letter of complaint to Macmillan Company
Glendale, CA: May 31, 1945
Macmillan Company Records, Manuscripts and Archives Division
Letter of complaint from Esther S. Schifferman to Macmillan Company
Published in October 1944, Kathleen Winsor’s novel Forever Amber tells the story of an ambitious young woman in Restoration-era London who advances through the social scene in a series of sexual conquests. The novel became a best-selling phenomenon in the United States, but along with its success came a campaign to ban the book in Boston and a national conversation about historical depictions of women’s sexuality and the role of religion in America’s literary discourse. In 1947, a film based on the book was released starring Linda Darnell and Cornel Wilde. In this letter, aspiring cookbook author Esther S. Schifferman expresses her dismay that Macmillan declined to publish her cookbook, but did publish Forever Amber. Schifferman declares that “my cookbook would have been a real help and contribution to the many young brides of today, but what does ‘Forever Amber’ do but leave you with ‘a bad taste in your mouth’!”
Teach with this item from Unit 1 of the curriculum guide, Reading Dangerously: Censorship and the Freedom to Read in 20th Century America.
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