The (fictitious) History of Ice Cream

Occasionally you will meet a character who manages to be both compelling and reprehensible at the same time.  This individual is shrewd, daring, bold and self-serving.  Oftentimes it is those contradictions of character that creates the blend of personality that causes the reader to become and remain transfixed.  What will happen next?  What will this person do next?  What won't they do in order to survive?

The queen of expediency.

This is the story of a young Jewish girl named Malka who immigrates from Russia to the United States with her family.  From the beginning, there are hints that this move may be the end of the family. While waiting for their boat, Mama and the other girls got sick which delayed the family's departure.  Malka and Papa were left to themselves and the tickets that were originally bought for South Africa are traded in for tickets headed west, across the Atlantic Ocean. Malka, the keeper of the secret money stash and tickets, was convinced by her father that this would be the best move for him and the family.
Their journey takes them to New York where they have no friends or family. Mama is furious with Malka and Papa but does her best to provide.  Soon the family is desperate and the two youngest girls (whom no one will hire due to the recent Triangle Factory Fire) are on the street doing odd jobs for pennies in order to help the family survive. Papa is quickly fading from the picture.
When Malka is run over in the street by the Italian man selling ices, she is abandoned by her mother for now she is crippled and useless. She is taken in by the man and his family.  Although she gradually becomes a part of the family, she is never really a family member.  This separation is the catalyst that will inspire her to work her way to the pinnacle of the ice cream trade.  It is also the impetus that causes her to be instrumental in the downfall of the very family that saved her.  As Malka, now named Lillian, would say, "You will see Darlings, my conscience never forgave me."
The Ice Cream Queen of Orchard Street takes the reader through the major political events and social changes of the twentieth century.  From failure to success and back again, this character has learned that she must make her own way even if it is at the expense of others.  Unlike Forrest Gump, whose successes were based on happenstance and dumb luck, this character commands her story through force of will.  This may not be a relaxing beach read, but it's engrossing none the less.
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