Lillian Boxfish Takes a Walk by Kathleen Rooney

Lillian Boxfish is no ordinary 85-year-old. On her arrival to New York in the 1930s she took the city by storm, working her way up from writing copy for Macy’s department store to become the world’s highest paid advertising woman. Now, alone on New Year’s Eve, her usual holiday ritual in ruins, Lillian decides to take a walk. After all, it might be her last chance. Armed with only her mink coat and quick-witted charm, Lillian walks, and begins to reveal the story of her remarkable life.

On a walk that takes her over 10 miles around the city, Lillian meets bartenders, shopkeepers, children, and criminals, while recalling a life of excitement and adversity, passion, and heartbreak.

Based on a true story, Lillian Boxfish Takes a Walk paints a portrait of an extraordinary woman across the canvas of a changing America.

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Lillian Boxfish Takes a Walk is a novel that’s not quite like anything else I’ve read. In the most literal sense, it is about Lillian Boxfish as she walks around Manhattan on New Year’s Eve, 1984. She shares her background along the way, from her successful and lucrative career in advertising to her poetry publications as well as the more personal details surrounding her marriage. It’s a compelling narrative, made all the more so for being based upon a real person, although the story itself is entirely fictional.

Lillian was born on the cusp of the 20th century, although has lied consistently about which side of that cusp her year of birth occurred. From a young age, she admired her aunt who, against the norm for the time, remained single in New York. With aspirations for a similar lifestyle, she moves there in 1926 (despite what the blurb may tell you!), finding work as an assistant copywriter at R. H. Macy’s department store.  She soon works her way up, becoming the highest paid woman in advertising, although the need for the ‘woman’ qualifier in that accolade grates constantly. She hates that she isn’t paid on a par with her male counterparts, but despite having a good working relationship with her boss, she is told that it’s just the way things are. It highlights her as a woman ahead of her time and one who isn’t afraid to speak out against inequality when she sees it.  As we walk around Manhattan with her in 1984, that career is a long way behind her, but it’s something that she looks back on with pride.

She also doesn’t desire a husband or family of her own. I loved her observations that many of the men she has relationships with (and there are a few of them!) think that she is simply doing a job until the right man (and they all think they’re the one) comes along to save her from it.  It’s a clever illustration of the attitudes of the time when it was widely assumed that women would settle down and have children, and that anything they did career-wise before that was simply a stop gap. It’s amusing and frustrating in equal measure.  Her attitude does change, however, when she meets Max.  It’s love at first sight for Lillian, and that feeling is enhanced by the respect and admiration he holds for her. He doesn’t expect her to give up work, although she does lose her job at R. H. Macy’s when she has a child as was the norm for the time, and he understands and supports her decision to freelance after their son is born. There’s an element of sadness in understanding how their relationship – which starts so strongly – turns out, something that is revealed on the first page of the novel.

As Lillian walks around Manhattan, she gets involved in various conversations.  Some of these are with individuals who ask if she needs help (she doesn’t), not liking the idea of her wandering around Manhattan on her own late at night.  These conversations show Lillian to be a kind, caring, and clever individual, but also one who will follow her own path in life and not be swayed by others.  What I really liked about her is that she isn’t judgemental.  She respects and engages with all those she encounters, regardless of age, gender, skin colour, sexual orientation etc. and there are many that could learn something from that attitude.  I think that it would be a little unrealistic if she didn’t encounter some trouble along the way, although when this does occur, she handles it with aplomb. 

One aspect of the novel that I really enjoyed was seeing the New York skyline change throughout Lillian’s time in the city.  It’s so easy to think of it as it is today, but Lillian witnesses some of the first skyscrapers being erected – something that is normal now and yet must have been quite odd at the time.  It’s strange to think of a time, and not all that long ago, when they weren’t there.  There is also an element of poignancy added as she observes the construction of the Twin Towers, although this did also introduce a small niggle from my perspective. Lillian makes a comment on how she might feel if they were no longer there, and while I expect it’s meant to be an element of precognition, it pulled me out of the novel through its specificity. It’s a small thing, and likely a personal bugbear.

Lillian Boxfish Takes a Walk is a quiet novel featuring a bold and unforgettable protagonist. As she shares her history, we also see how times and attitudes changed throughout the 60 or so years that her story covers. It’s a novel that I enjoyed for offering the reader something a little out of the ordinary, and one that I recommend.