New Memoir Offers a Personal View on Growing Up in the Shadow of Chicago’s Viaducts

CHANDLER, AZ (June 2021)—The Windy City’s viaduct system, designed to support rail and vehicular traffic, unintentionally created neighborhoods decidedly distinct from one another. Debra Kaplan Low grew up in one of these areas known as the Manor.

In her upcoming book, Under the Viaduct: Memories of Life in the Manor and Beyond (Book Street Press), Low shares with readers what it was like growing up in the 1950s and 1960s surrounded by a colorful cast of Manor characters that included such people as the mostly bald, one-legged lady everyone tried to avoid.

Low shares stories of home life with a father who had a severe anger problem: “His outbursts were well known to family, neighbors, and friends alike, especially on warm summer days when the windows were open, and you could hear my father rage all the way down the street.”

She also discusses the dramatic social and demographic changes of the late 1960s and early 1970s that culminated in the “white flight” from the Manor that was given additional impetus by the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. Her story continues into her adulthood with her exploration of the depths of her spiritual beliefs and with the complicating challenges of caring for aging parents.

Through it all, the memories of life in the Manor (many of which will resonate with readers regardless of where they grew up) continue to shape Low’s open-minded approach to life.

“This is the story of my life in Chicago's South Side, which focuses primarily on the Manor, the area south of the 95th Street viaducts,” says Low. “Through my own lens, however distorted that may be, I share my personal stories and experiences that I hope readers will enjoy.”

Under the Viaduct: Memories of Life in the Manor and Beyond by Debra Kaplan Low (ISBN: 978-1-58985-245-7, softbound, $14.95; eISBN: 978-1-58985-247-1, eBook, $3.99) is slated for release on September 30, 2021 and is available to pre-order from Amazon and on the Story Monsters website. For more information about Under the Viaduct, Debra Kaplan Low or Book Street Press, visit www.storymonsters.com, email publisher@storymonsters.com or call (480) 940-8182.

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