What is the title of your latest release?
ONE OF THEM
What’s the “elevator pitch” for your new book?
Two young women meet at Vassar in the later 1940s and begin to form a friendship. Both are Jewish but one hides her identity because she thinks doing that will solve all her social problems. Guess what? It doesn’t.
How did you decide where your book was going to take place?
I went to Vassar and so it was a place both familiar and dear. I knew I could write about it with conviction, affection and authority. And Paris is my dream city; I loved getting to write about it.
Would you hang out with your protagonist in real life?
Yes.
What are three words that describe your protagonist?
Delia: brave, bold, Parisian.
Anne: sensitive, empathetic, strong
What’s something you learned while writing this book?
I learned that I could go wider in scope than I had before, and that I could tackle bigger issues.
Do you edit as you draft or wait until you are totally done?
I need to get the whole thing down before I can start to edit. I tend to work quickly but have to do many drafts.
What’s your favorite foodie indulgence?
I do love sweets—baked goods with fruit and/or cream. And chocolate!
Describe your writing space/office!
I work in an upstairs room in my house that faces the backyard. The room has had different uses: it’s been the bedroom I shared with my husband and later my son, and later my daughter used it. It’s a nice room—decent size, afternoon light—and I’ve made it my own with wallpaper, black and white photographs, a handsome 19th carved wooden desk and a pink velvet chair.
Who is an author you admire?
Vladimir Nabokov; I think Lolita is one of the greatest novels ever written in English. And his memoir, Speak Memory, is the best memoir I’ve ever read.
Is there a book that changed your life?
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn. I must have read it twenty times.
Tell us about when you got “the call.” (when you found out your book was going to be published)/Or, for indie authors, when you decided to self-publish.
I’ve published nine novels; One of Them will be the tenth. So I don’t have a single such moment to describe.
What’s your favorite genre to read?
When I’m writing a novel, I can’t read one! So I tend to read poetry, another deep and abiding love of mine. In fact, I wish I’d been a poet but that muse never visited me.
What’s your favorite movie?
Children of Paradise.
What is your favorite season?
Spring
How do you like to celebrate your birthday?
I’m kind of a low-key b-day gal. Dinner with my kids and/or a couple of close friends does it for me.
What’s a recent tv show/movie/book/podcast you highly recommend?
The White Lotus and Succession were two recent faves.
What’s your favorite type of cuisine?
Anything fresh, simple and light.
What do you do when you have free time?
I have a really fun side hustle: I buy and sell vintage clothing.
What can readers expect from you next?
I haven’t started work on anything yet—I’ve got to get One of Them out and into the world. But I do have an idea for a book set largely in New York in the 1950s, with some detours to 18th century Amsterdam.
A Novel
The beloved author of Not Our Kind and The Dressmakers of Prospect Heights returns with a story of secrets, friendship, and betrayal about two young women at Vassar in the years after World War II, a powerful and moving tale of prejudice and pride that echoes the cultural and social issues of today.
Anne Bishop seems like a typical Vassar sophomore—one of a popular group of privileged WASP friends. None of the girls in her circle has any idea that she’s Jewish, or that her real name is or that her real first name is Miriam. Pretending to be a Gentile has made life easier—as Anne, she no longer suffers the snubs, snide remarks, and daily restrictions Jews face. She enjoys her college life of teas, late-night conversations, and mixers. She turns a blind eye to the casual anti-Semitism that flourishes among her friends and classmates—after all, it's no longer directed at her.
But her secret life is threatened when she becomes fascinated by a girl not in her crowd. Delia Goldhush is sophisticated, stylish, brilliant, and unashamedly Jewish—and seems not to care that she’s an outcast among the other students. Knowing that her growing closeness with Delia would be social suicide if it were discovered, Anne keeps their friendship quiet. Delia seems to understand—until a cruelty on Anne’s part drives them apart and sends them scattering to other corners of the world, alone and together.
Women's Fiction Friendship | Women's Fiction Historical [Harper, On Sale: September 9, 2025, Hardcover / e-Book, ISBN: 9780063352841 / eISBN: 9780063352865]
Kitty Zeldis is the pen name of a Brooklyn based author of nine novels, numerous essays, articles and works of short fiction as well as forty books for children.
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