Did You Have the Life You Wanted?: A Novel

Anita Rappaport is dogged by the question: Did you have the life you wanted?

Life begins for Anita in 1968 when she graduates from college, leaves her family home in Brooklyn, and moves to Greenwich Village, stepping into the revolutionary heyday of her times. Against the turbulent backdrop of racially charged school strikes, the Stonewall Inn and Attica uprisings, and the nascent feminist movement, Anita grapples with gang violence, job restrictions, gender stereotypes, as well as the corrosive nature of familial secrets and regrets, and, ultimately, her own evolution as a woman during and after this volatile era. As she ages, Anita asks herself and her friends the question: “Did you have the life you wanted?” prompting surprising and heartbreaking responses.

Spanning the generations over a fifty-year period from 1968 to 2019, Did You Have the Life You Wanted? is a celebration of the ‘70s, the women who lived through it, and the legacy they left their daughters. Above all, this novel serves as an anthem to the restorative and life-affirming power of female friendship.

About the Author

Andrea Simon is the author of three award-winning, published books: the groundbreaking memoir/history, Bashert: A Granddaughter’s Holocaust Quest; historical fiction, Esfir Is Alive; and a novel-in-stories, Floating in the Neversink. Andrea holds an MFA in Creative Writing from the City College of New York, where she has taught writing. Students from her course “Writing About Your Mom without Guilt,” created the anthology, Here’s the Story...Nine Women Write Their Lives, of which Andrea is the editor and a contributor. A native New Yorker, she lives in Manhattan with her husband.

Praise for Did You Have the Life You Wanted?

“Entertaining, far-reaching, and wise.”
—Katherine Kirkpatrick, author of To Chase the Glowing Hours

“Explores the challenges and rewards of both youthful self-discovery and mature introspection through the eyes of Anita Rappaport, a woman whose early life allowed her to experience the revolutionary heyday of the 1960s.”
—Mary Caputi, Ph.D., feminist, professor, and author of Feminism and Power: The Need for Critical Theory

"Original and deftly written, the author brings an earlier New York to life. A moving and fascinating story.”
—Stephanie Cowell, author of The Boy in the Rain, Claude and Camille and The Man in the Stone Cottage, recipient of an American Book Award

“An authentic and emotional journey where the past comes alive. I highly recommend it.”
—Kathleen M. Rodgers, 2024 MWSA Writer of the Year and author of The Llano County Mermaid Club