Scarlet Cinders

Scarlet Cinders explores the 50s and 60s Northwest Washington, DC from the point of view of a young girl experiencing events larger than herself which formed her Personal Opera of life. In three acts, these events played out. She loved her grandparents’ Letterman Tourist Home in its grand old years and then watched it being torn down to make way for the Letterman House, a large modern apartment building. She spent the last summers in Atlantic City’s old time beach resort before it began its transformation into today’s gambling playground. The oldest of five children, she lived through her parents’ transition from a life of social involvement and high fashion to one of isolation and moving from house to house to escape what only they knew had to be left behind. The vignettes in this book are the scarlet cinders that remain in the forge, out of which this beautiful woman, Martha Ann Letterman, has emerged. Readers who remember these times will find a common spark to ignite their own memory; these stories will touch them. Younger readers will find in these pages a unique perspective on an older DC. Filled with joy, sadness and humor, this book satisfies the heart.