The Alliance Française de Chicago was delighted to welcome Judith Umlas for an author talk, panel discussion, and book signing in July 2025. Judy gave a moving account of the relationship between her mother and her longtime French penpal, a friendship that inspired Judy's book Strangers and Soulmates (Âmes soeurs et inconnues). She was then joined virtually by the translator of the French edition, Valery Galinsky, for a discussion on the translation process moderated by AF-Chicago Director of the Médiathèque Renée Saito. Guests were touched by Judy's story and participated in an engaging Q&A session to close the program. It was a pleasure working with Judy, and I would recommend her as a speaker to other cultural institutions looking to organize programming around Franco-American friendship and language learning.
This is mostly about the program Ms. Umlas did at our library, but the book, being tied to the program is quite good as well.
Judith W. Umlas delivered an inspiring and practical workshop at Finkelstein Memorial Library on Treasuring and Preserving Your Family Legacy, captivating the audience with her expertise and passion. She encouraged participants to bring their own family treasures, which were discussed. Judith also shared her personal journey of preserving her mother’s letters to a French pen pal from 1936 to 1947, which she beautifully compiled in her book “Soulmates & Strangers.” Her storytelling and practical advice left attendees motivated and equipped to embark on their own legacy preservation projects.
What a perfect title! Soulmates and Strangers truly captures the unique friendship between Sylvia and Claudia that spans many decades and thousand of miles. Seeing this relationship through the eyes of the author (Sylvia’s daughter) is particularly heartwarming as she uncovers many surprising things about her (then) young mother. So well written with photos that add texture to the story and pull the reader in.
There was a sweet and beautiful feeling the moment I opened the box, looked at the book and began reading the back cover. I am the same age as the author, and I felt like I was looking at my mother's life too! My mother lived in Philadelphia. The page layout was eye catching and kept me looking deeper into the letters. My mother studied French in High School and my granddaughter is very good at her French. SO, the pen pale in France was a great connector. The story is delightful and keep my interest to the very end. Made me go search for my mother's letters. The peachy orange color is a favorite of mine too. Life before and after WWII was a time like no other in our American history. I will give this book to my granddaughter who speaks French and let her know that it's a "slice of life" from a time period that she would have loved. Looking forward to talking about it with my book club friends.
What an excellent way for the author to learn more about her mother and to experience such a bonding relationship. After reading it, I felt compelled to share it with my mother. She and I both enjoyed how she learned so much about her mother as a teenager, her love of poetry, and how it helped her understand her mother even more. What a terrific book for mothers and daughters to share.
“Soulmates and Strangers” took me on a fun ride into the past. I really appreciated the way Judy’s book invites you into a very intimate and personal story. I enjoyed watching the friendship of two teenagers develop as each chapter revealed something new. I know I would have liked Sylvia and Claudia and found myself wishing I could have been a part of their history.
I felt a deep sadness for Sylvia in her attempts to hide her religion from Claudia. It made me feel frustrated that we live in a world where these differences among us need to be guarded.
I fervently wish that Claudia’s letters are found so Judy can have more insight into the amazing friendship of these very special women.
Thank you, Judy, for writing this intriguing book.
Umlas’ memoir reflects on her mother’s life-changing international correspondence with a French pen pal.
Even from a very early age, the author recalled her mother Sylvia Wagreich’s deepening bond with a woman from Lyon, France named Claudia Raymonde Mariotti. The relationship began with a high school–instituted letter-exchange project in 1936. And for the next 70 years, the friendship between these two women endured through a series of letters, written half in French, half in English, detailing their private lives, loves, losses, and their separate life adventures. “I’ve always known that I’d been a major beneficiary of my mother’s long and rich relationship with her French pen pal,” the author writes. In 1965, despite Umlas’ Type 1 diabetes diagnosis, her mother allowed her enough independence to spend the summer of her 18th birthday in France with Claudia and her husband, Mario. The extended visit, which was life-changing for Umlas, had been carefully prearranged by her mother, who had yet to meet Claudia in person. As an adult, the author and her teenage son made a special trip in 2005 to visit Mario and Claudia (who, at 85 years old, was still an officer in the official Elvis Presley fan club of France). Claudia ceremoniously presented the author with a treasury of letters she’d received from Sylvia beginning from their first exchange to the spring of 1947, when Sylvia was 26 and was about six months pregnant with Umlas. This gift became a keepsake and a priceless glimpse into her mother’s life as a teenager and into her adulthood. After the devastating loss of both parents in 2008, Umlas, with her mother’s letters in tow, visited Mario and Claudia to share nostalgic moments, reconnect on a deeper emotional level, and express her fondest appreciation for the gift of her mother’s letters.
Umlas, whose background is in corporate training with a focus on empowerment and acknowledgment advocacy, embellishes her enthusiastic, heartfelt prose with an eye-catchingly creative design that balances the author’s narration with the letters and family photographs that bring the stories and “glorious and colorful details” of her mother’s adventures to life. Early in their correspondence, Sylvia and Claudia exchanged constructive criticism (and gracious acknowledgment) for minor missteps in each other’s attempts at translation. Verbatim extracts from the letters provide an intimate knowledge of the women’s friendship as well as affording the author the opportunity to familiarize herself with her “mover and shaker” mother’s perspectives on the arts, old Hollywood, and international politics. As Umlas’ unique insider education on her mother broadens, so does her adoration, as the memories deepen her emotional attachment to her mother’s legacy. In her first letter, Umlas’ mother writes to Claudia: “I was enchanted to receive your letter. I read it almost 100 times until I knew it by heart. I am very happy to have a French friend.” Readers who still have close relationships with their parents will find much to appreciate here, as will Francophiles since Umlas incorporates the French language, culture, and atmosphere that Claudia shared with her soul mate. In a social media–saturated world, this is a refreshing example of how an enduring long-distance companionship can be formed using simple pen and paper.
So charming, so delightful, yet so wistful and poignant.
Those were the words I said to myself when I finished reading Soulmates & Strangers.
The unfolding of your mother's teenage and early married years had me captivated.
I was totally with you in wonderment about how little we knew of the thoughts and feelings of our mothers when they were young.
Intertwining your reactions with your mother's words, with all the photographs, made the book so personal and relatable.
This book brought joy and light into my life during this dark, isolating time of Covid-19.
I've gotten the Soulmates & Strangers book and it was a pleasure reading it. Building a pen pal website myself I can appreciate the story and I believe so can you. I recommend that you give this book a try.
What an amazing book! I hardly know where to begin to tell you how much I enjoyed it on so many levels. It is filled with love...honest, touching, thoughtful, tender, and humorous. You did an excellent job seamlessly weaving the narrative and letters together. Visually the book is stunning, and the photos are heaven to examine closely.
When I said the book meant a lot to me on various levels, let me explain. Like you, I was born in The Bronx (near Yankee Stadium) in 1947; like your Mom I went to Hunter College (at the uptown campus right next to Strong Street!); I had a French penpal who lived near Nimes in the South of France who I visited as a teenager; and I spent 3 months (the happiest summer of my life) in Switzerland when I was 17 with a couple who were friends of my parents without children of their own who we referred to as "our Swiss family". So believe me when I tell you that your book is absolutely wonderful and is made even more so to me because of my background and experiences. But you expressed it all so much better than I ever could. Thank you.
What an amazing book! I hardly know where to begin to tell you how much I enjoyed it on so many levels. It is filled with love...honest, touching, thoughtful, tender, and humorous. You did an excellent job seamlessly weaving the narrative and letters together. Visually the book is stunning, and the photos are heaven to examine closely.
When I said the book meant a lot to me on various levels, let me explain. Like you, I was born in The Bronx (near Yankee Stadium) in 1947; like your Mom I went to Hunter College (at the uptown campus right next to Strong Street!); I had a French penpal who lived near Nimes in the South of France who I visited as a teenager; and I spent 3 months (the happiest summer of my life) in Switzerland when I was 17 with a couple who were friends of my parents without children of their own who we referred to as "our Swiss family". So believe me when I tell you that your book is absolutely wonderful and is made even more so to me because of my background and experiences. But you expressed it all so much better than I ever could. Thank you.
Soulmates & Strangers is a beautiful tribute to friendship, family legacy, and the love of a daughter. Judith takes readers back in time on this personal journey as she gets to know her young mother and her french pen pal. The love Judy has for both Sylvia and Claudia is apparent on every page. This book inspired me to collect stories from my family members so that I can pass them down to my children as they get older.
Soulmates & Strangers is a beautiful tribute to friendship, family legacy, and the love of a daughter. Judith takes readers back in time on this personal journey as she gets to know her young mother and her french pen pal. The love Judy has for both Sylvia and Claudia is apparent on every page. This book inspired me to collect stories from my family members so that I can pass them down to my children as they get older.
I absolutely loved this book, a true story that captured an era of time before my birth and left me feeling as if I had experienced it myself. I was very taken by the beautiful friendship that lasted so many years. Here are woman of two very different backgrounds entirely, who enjoyed sharing about there life experiences and culture. As the book goes on I became more and more excited to turn the pages. I honestly have never been left so emotional after reading a book. I feel as though I have met the wonderful people featured in this book. It’s wonderful to know that they will continue to live on in these pages and many more readers will gabe the opportunity to get to know them. I would love to see a movie or screen pray! I will settle for a part 2…I need to know more!
I absolutely loved this book, a true story that captured an era of time before my birth and left me feeling as if I had experienced it myself. I was very taken by the beautiful friendship that lasted so many years. Here are woman of two very different backgrounds entirely, who enjoyed sharing about there life experiences and culture. As the book goes on I became more and more excited to turn the pages. I honestly have never been left so emotional after reading a book. I feel as though I have met the wonderful people featured in this book. It’s wonderful to know that they will continue to live on in these pages and many more readers will gabe the opportunity to get to know them. I would love to see a movie or screen pray! I will settle for a part 2…I need to know more!
