There Goes My Heart: A Collection of Personal Memories (2016)

Short stories from the heart… A love affair sealed in (a kidney) stone. A mother who is out in left field when she volunteers to chaperone her daughter’s school trip. The boxer who ate the blintzes. Popular newspaper columnist Marilyn Shapiro delights her readers in There Goes My Heart, a collection of 40 essays that capture special moments in a lifetime spent in Upstate New York, Florida, Colorado and beyond. Readers will empathize with these true stories of dating, marriage, raising children and caring for elderly parents through the author’s wit edged with appreciation and love of family and friends. You can purchase There Goes My Heart on Amazon in both Kindle and paperback formats. Click here for link!

Tikkun Olam: Stories of Repairing an Unkind World (2016)

Tikkun Olam is the Hebrew moral principle that every individual should leave the world a better place than he or she found it. Marilyn Cohen Shapiro shares her journey to her “highest self” through thoughtful and often witty writings, which span a lifetime of experiences, from childhood, marriage, motherhood, and retirement. Throughout her journeys, she never loses her unwavering beliefs in truth, kindness, and community service—her insight colored with healthy doses of humor and compassion. You can purchase Tikkun Olam on Amazon in both Kindle and paperback formats. Click here for link!

Fradel’s Story (2021)

Frances “Fradel” Cohen was her family’s historian, writing about the Old Country and what it was like for her mother and her siblings to grow up in a small Lithuanian hamlet at the turn of the century with the fear of pogroms always on the Jewish population’s minds. She chronicled their immigration to America and how they established roots for themselves and the first generation of native-born Americans that followed. She wrote how she and her husband Bill met on a blind date; how they raised four children in various small towns in the North Country; how they loved spending time in their cottage on Lake Champlain; how they enjoyed their retirement years. The stories—funny, poignant, sad, and sometimes painful—are skillfully supplemented with essays written by her daughter Marilyn, an author, columnist, and blogger. You can purchase Fradel’s Story on Amazon in both Kindle and paperback formats. Click here for link!

Keep Calm and Bake Challah: How I Survived the Pandemic, Politics, Pratfalls, and Other of Life’s Problems (2023)

A Silver Lining? COVID-19 brought our normal world to a screeching halt. Fear, anxiety, panic struck our nation and the world. But was the end result a disaster for everyone? With the bad often comes some good, and this book of essays by Marilyn Cohen Shapiro  examines the effect the virus lockdown had on various friends, family, and neighbors across the United States, all through a Jewish lens and sharp wit. Baking challah became a ritual for the author during the lockdown. She established a ritual each Friday during the pandemic, kneading of the dough, saying prayers for friends and family who were ill or grieving, and when possible, gifting the warm loaves to those in need. You can purchase Keep Calm and Bake Challah  on Amazon in both Kindle and paperback formats. Click here for link! NOTE: This book is NOT a cookbook! (But you can find her recipe for challah at the end of the book.)

Under the Shelter of Butterfly Wings: Stories of Jewish Sacrifice, Survival, and Strength. [Coming 2025]

A sister’s promise to her brother as her family is transported to Auschwitz. A young girl’s survival in the forest. A sole survivor of his family who honors thheir memory by building a synagogue in Florida. A POW whose knowledge of Yiddish keeps him and his fellow prisoners alive. An “orphan” whose persistance leads him to finding his father’s death is immortalized in a world-famous photo. Through interviews and extensive research, Marilyn Cohen Shapiro has written stories that reflect the extraordinary lives that reflect Jewish sacrifice, survival and strength. Click here for the story of how Marilyn started writing these stories. Click here for an example of her Holocaust stories. [Picture of blue morpho butterfly courtesy of Sharon and Steve Schoenberg]