Dear Friends, I am an American author engaged in the writing of a coming-of-age novel about a young person of indeterminate gender that is set in the early years of the 20th Century. Four parts to the novel, totalling over 70,000 words, have been posted on Big Closet Top Shelf (www.bigclosetr.us) as Balthasar’s Extract, the Diary of Evelyn Westcott.

The story has now carried young Evelyn and her aunt to Vienna in the twilight of the Habsburgs. It is a locale that fascinates me, but I know it only slightly, nor is German a language I know. Thus I appeal for help from one of you, someone who I hope is fluent in both English and German and, like me, one who takes delight in the recreation of bygone times and habits of thought.

In a word, I will soon finish Part V, set largely in Vienna in 1910, and seek a reader, or readers, who will correct me on questions of fact and propose additions or modifications to the text that sharpen the readers’ sense that Evi’s story is real.

If you should like to join me in this pleasant activity, please write to me in English to volunteer your services. I would take it kindly if you were tell me just a little about yourself that is relevant to the challenge I pose. My e-mail address is [email protected].

With thanks in advance, hugs, Daphne