Retired performer expresses
her creativity in romantic thriller
BY ROBERT WIRSING
A retired Bronx performer has found
a new stage to express her creativity.
Deborah Eiseman has released her
second novel, ‘Portrait in Desperation,’
a chilling tale combining romance with
suspense.
The longtime Riverdale resident said
she became inspired to create this specifi
c novel after envisioning a young
woman sitting on top of a staircase feeling
lost.
Portrait in Desperation opens with
this exact scene of the main protagonist
Kaitrina Bogdani after making a life and
death decision.
The novel proceeds to recount the
events leading up to Kaitrina’s choice for
survival.
When she was only 12-years-old,
Kaitrina was forced into a marriage
with Isuf Januzaj, a powerful Albanian
crime lord.
After witnessing a heinous act of violence,
Kaitrina fl ees to Philadelphia
where she adopts a new identity.
She soon falls in love with a local
artist named Mark D’Angelo who is unaware
of her deep dark secret.
Kaitrina’s past refuses to stay buried
forcing her to return to her former life
with Isuf in order to protect Mark.
Eiseman’s life has always been a creative
adventure.
The High School of Music & Art
alumna performed community theater
at the Amalgamated Co-op as a singer
and dancer for a decade.
She also sang and performed for veterans
residing at the James J. Peters VA
Medical Center until she was diagnosed
with multiple sclerosis.
Although Eiseman’s condition prevented
her from expressing herself
through song and dance, she soon found
a new outlet for her creativity.
“Writing came naturally for me because
it’s another form of performing,”
she expressed.
She cites James Michener, Sandra
Brown, Eugene O’Neill, William Shakespeare,
James McBride and Tennessee
National Night Out events planned by borough precincts
BRONX TIMES REPORTER, A 30 UGUST 2-8, 2019 BTR
Williams as her literary inspirations.
Eiseman worked for 25 years as a
teacher at DeWitt Clinton High School
where she taught several subjects. Her
favorite was playwriting through improv.
During her time teaching and raising
her family, Eiseman began writing novels
which she now does full-time following
her retirement.
Her anticipated third novel, ‘What
Winter Has Stolen,’ slated for release in
2020, is actually the fi rst novel she wrote
40 years ago.
She is currently hard at work adapting
it into a contemporary tale.
‘In A Mother’s Arms,’ chronicles the
lives of three women during the fi rst half
of the tumultuous 20th century.
In A Mother’s Arms and Portrait in
Desperation can be purchased via Amazon
and Barnes & Noble in hardcover, paperback
and Kindle editions.
The covers for both novels were created
in collaboration with Eiseman’s
cousin Amanda Weiner, a graphic de-
Deborah Eiseman is currentlly working on
her third novel, ‘What Winter Has Stolen.’
Photo courtesy of Deborah Eiseman
signer.
Eiseman confi rmed she will participate
in BookExpo America 2020 at the
Jacob Javits Center from Wednesday,
May 27 to Friday, May 29 and looks forward
to meeting her fans.
Fans can follow Eiseman on her offi -
cial Facebook and Twitter pages.
For additional information, visit
www.deboraheisemanbooks.com.
BY PATRICK ROCCHIO
The borough is taking part
again this year in National
Night Out events in an effort to
promote police-community partnerships
and community camaraderie.
Every police precinct in the
borough will host a National
Night Out event on Tuesday, August
6.
Precinct council leaders said
that the annual event, held nationwide
and started in 1984, is
an opportunity for the community
and cops to come together
and build bonds that can lead
to better relations, which in
turn can help solve and prevent
crimes.
“National Night Out is held
across the country and it emphasizes
the fact that it takes
the whole community to have a
safe community, not just police,”
said Joe Thompson, 49th Precinct
Community Council president.
The community is where the
police gets information it uses
to solve crimes, and the better
people like the police, the more
they cooperate, Thompson said,
adding he believes it is the most
worthwhile thing the busy precinct
council, which hosts a
charity run and holiday food
drive, does every year.
“Our focus is to let the criminal
element in our community
know we are working with the
police and not going to surrender
in terms of crime, quality of
life or anything else,” said Elizabeth
Gill, 47th Precinct Community
Council president emeritus.
Her precinct’s annual event
features entertainment, members
of the NYPD’s youth Explorers
program, volunteer
NYPD auxiliary police, clergy,
NYPD personnel, and community
members, said Gill.
“It is a fun day, but it is also
an educational day as well,” said
Gill.
Over in the 45th Precinct, its
police offi cers have reached into
their own pockets to purchase
items like bicycles for the raffl e,
said Bob Bieder, 45th Precinct
Community Council president,
adding that Riverbay Corporation,
which manages Co-op City,
runs the annual event.
“It is always a way to bring
police and community together,”
noting there is also food, entertainment
and tables with community
groups.
The following is a list of precincts,
locations and times for
this year’s National Night Out
events in the borough:
-40th Precinct; Brook Ave
between East 137th Street and
East 138th Street; 3 to 7 p.m.
-41st Precinct; Police Athletic
League Center at 991 Longwood
Avenue; 4 to 8 p.m.
-42nd Precinct; Jennings
Youth participate in a previous year’s National Night Out Against Crime
in the 49th Precinct. File Photo
Street between Prospect and
Union avenues; 2 to 7 p.m.
-43rd Precinct; Bruckner
Commons at 970 White Plains
Road; 4 to 8 p.m.
-44th Precinct; East 169th
Street between Walton and Gerard
avenues; 3 to 8 p.m.
-45th Precinct, Rear of 140
Benchley Place; 6 to 11 p.m.
-46th Precinct; Roberto Celemente
State Park at 301 W. Tremont
Avenue; 3 to 7 p.m.
-47th Precinct; Granada
Place between Ely and Laconia
avenues; 4 to 8 p.m.
-48th Precinct; Bathgate Avenue
between East 188th Street
and East 189th Street; 4 to 8
p.m.
-50th Precinct; West 234th
Street between Broadway and
Bailey Avenue; 6 to 9 p.m.
-52nd Precinct; Poe Park on
the Grand Concourse at East
192nd Street; 5 to 8 p.m.
Cops and community were celebrated at a recent National Night Out in
the 52nd Precinct. File
/www.deboraheisemanbooks.com
/www.deboraheisemanbooks.com