Jack Salem

Pausing for a Backward Glance: a Work of Historical Fiction Jack Salem

It's the summer of 1950---the protagonist, Sally Apple, impetuous and quirky, disliked yet respected for her un-censoring brain, is a Hollywood screenwriter sent to Paris on a questionable assignment to explore the core values of the crown jewels of fin-de-siecle France, icons such as Degas, Renoir, Monet, Cezanne, Pissarro, Rodin, Saint-Saens, Debussy, Proust, and the effect the infamous Dreyfus Affaire had on their conscience, integrity and loyalty. In an effort to understand their strong positions on The Affaire, she becomes each of these towering figures---speaking with their inner voices---and in the process, discovers its devastating effect on their relationship with one another and on French society---and ultimately, on her and her husband. When, under suspicious circumstances, her assignment is abruptly terminated, she returns to Los Angeles and finds herself a witness in the post-war House Un-American Activities Committee investigations of communists amongst the crown jewels of Hollywood. In the process, she learns about the revolutionary ideas of Frances Perkins, appointed by FDR in February of 1933 as the first female Secretary of Labor; the iniquity and horror of fanaticism; the Spanish Civil War; Guernica; the American Lincoln Brigade; the damage to our civil rights; national paranoia; betrayals and lies amongst friends; the ruination of careers and personal lives. And why, despite their mistreatment, Black Americans chose to fight for America during the Second World War, all of which gives us a greater understanding of who we are as a nation. And, when she discovers shocking secrets that threaten her marriage, she gains a greater understanding of who we are as individuals as well. The novel delves deeply into the political and social zeitgeist of these two periods and its impact on our society as a whole.