Marilyn Simon Rothstein of Avon has won the Star Award presented by the Women’s Fiction Writers Association for the best debut novel of 2017. Rothstein won the award for her novel Lift and Separate, the story of a woman forced to restart her life when her husband of 33 years, aka the Bra King, leaves her for a perkier fit. The book is available on Amazon.com.

Raised in New York City, Rothstein received a degree in journalism from New York University, started her writing career at Seventeen magazine and owned an advertising agency in Avon for 25 years. She earned an M.A. in Judaic studies from the University of Connecticut.

A Jewish Book Council author, she plans to speak at book stores in Atlanta, Georgia, St. Louis, Missouri, Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, Cherry Hill, New Jersey, and more.

She is a long-time member of Beth El Temple in West Hartford, where her first book launch took place last year.