Sheila Katz, the irrepressible main character of A Departure from the Script, is a Jewish mother who helps her lesbian daughter plan a traditional Jewish lesbian wedding. What's more, she's doing it behind her husband's back! And if that isn't enough tsuris -- Yiddish for aggravation -- for one person, then what is she to make of her own new infatuation with a striking lesbian artist? Read the book and find out!
Rochelle Hollander Schwab grew up in the Bronx, but traveled to Ohio to attend Antioch College. One evening at a Friday night folk dance she said hello to a couple she knew who lived in town. "Hi," they replied, "Do you know Dick Schwab?" Another dance began, and they danced away. Dick didn't dance, so he and Rochelle stood and talked, then went out for pizza. A few months later they stood together again -- under a canopy at their traditional Jewish wedding ceremony.
The latest of Rochelle's four novels also features a wedding -- a traditional Jewish lesbian wedding! In A Departure from the Script, the protagonist is a Jewish mother who helps her lesbian daughter plan her wedding to her partner -- behind her husband's back. If this isn't enough tsuris (Yiddish for aggravation) for one person, mom finds herself falling for another woman. It's a comic novel, but with something serious to say about love, marriage and family, and even includes discussion questions for reading groups.
Her earlier novels are: In a Family Way, which focuses on a custody fight over the child of a lesbian couple after the birth mother is killed; A Different Sin, a gay romance set against the background of the Civil War; and As Far as Blood Goes, the story of a fugitive slave who becomes a doctor. As might be guessed, Rochelle is a strong supporter of GLBT equal rights, and recently has written a few op-eds supporting marriage equality -- one of which was included in a college textbook on writing.
She's active in the Washington DC chapter of PFLAG (Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays), and enjoys biking, walking and visiting grandchildren. No children or pets left at home (unless a retired husband counts.)
She's the same person as Rochelle H. Schwab, by the way. Her first book was published as a mass market paperback, and her publisher thought her name was too long to fit on the cover!
And she's finally replaced her author photo from the last millennium. This one was taken with a cellphone camera at the Alexandria Democrats dinner dance celebrating President Obama's inauguration.
