It Was Her New York: True Stories & Snapshots, C O Moed

Description

It Was Her New York: True Stories & Snapshots

by C. O. Moed
Paperback – February 29, 2024

Tender, observant, and quietly devastating, It Was Her New York is a memoir in essays and photographs about love, loss, aging, and a city slipping out from under its people.

C. O. Moed grew up on the Lower East Side of Manhattan, a neighborhood shaped by grit, intimacy, and survival. In this deeply personal collection, she returns there as an adult to care for her mother Florence—a broke, Juilliard-trained pianist whose sharp wit and fierce independence are slowly overtaken by dementia. As Florence’s memory falters, the city around them also transforms, eroded by gentrification and time.

Blending true stories with evocative snapshots, Moed traces the parallel unraveling of a parent and a place. Along the way, she uncovers buried histories: old lesbians who lived quietly, loves that went unnamed, desires that were hidden for decades, and the fierce tenderness that exists between mothers and daughters even as roles reverse.

By turns funny, aching, and sharply perceptive, It Was Her New York asks questions that feel both personal and collective: What happens when memory fades? What do we owe the people who raised us? And how do we grieve not just individuals, but entire worlds?

This is a book for anyone who has cared for an aging parent, watched a beloved neighborhood change beyond recognition, or stumbled upon truths about love and identity long after they were first lived.

Book Details

• Author: C. O. Moed

• Binding: Paperback

• Publication Date: February 29, 2024

• Genre: Memoir / Nonfiction

• Awards & Honors:

  • Winner, Next Generation Indie Book Awards (2025)

  • BookLife Editor’s Pick

  • Gold Winner, Nonfiction, Literary Titan Book Award (2024)

  • Bronze Award, LGBT, Global Book Awards (2024)

  • Bronze Award, LGBTQ, International Book Awards (2024)

  • Judge’s Pick, Firebird Book Award

  • 1st Place, Outstanding Creator Award for Grief and Coping / Trauma

  • Honorable Mention, Biography / Autobiography, London Book Festival

• Content Notes: Queer history, caregiving, dementia, grief, mothers and daughters, New York City