HELLO? WHO IS THIS? MARGARET? by Dani Alpert – Personal Essays, Memoirs, Writers & Entertainers

In Dani Alpert’s Hello? Who Is This? Margaret?, she shares her story through a series of essays, each one a piece in the larger puzzle of who she is as a performer, writer, director, Pilates instructress, and unapologetic optimist.

Throughout Hello? Who Is This? Margaret?, we follow the author as she learns the important lessons of life, laughing, shaking our heads, and taking away a few lessons for ourselves, too.

Though these essays may seem unconnected at first, they ultimately weave together the story of a flawed woman who suffers through heartbreak and failure only to keep trying, and trying again. She writes with humor, honesty, and hope. Regardless of what is thrown Alpert’s way, she perseveres, finding new ways to plow through difficulties and chase after her dreams—even those that need to be dusted off and rearranged.

From her very first performance at the age of seven, Alpert knew she wanted to be a performer, and international fame was her only acceptable outcome.

Even when no one else believed in her, she stubbornly believed in herself. Despite all evidence to the contrary, she was certain her big break was just around the corner—and any corner would do.

Along the way she got married, divorced, lived with a man with two kids and played at being a girlfriend mom—which, it turned out, was a role she was actually pretty good at. She moved to Prague to teach English to foreign students (something she was very pretty good at), and began to write.

There, in writing, is where she flourished.

Though she never gave up her dream of being an international superstar performer, writing—then Pilates—became her life. And how lucky we are that she found her voice and picked up her pen!

With brutal self-awareness and sometimes dark humor, Alpert shares these stories of her life.

From hanging with Chas Bono (now Chaz) in the hopes she’ll meet Cher, to failing to impress Norman Lear, finding Pilates and learning to pole dance, Alpert weaves along the many paths she took to find herself. At each and every turn, she is certain beyond a doubt that all will work out and she will succeed. She will be discovered. She will find fame. But in the end, what she finds is much more personal. Dani finds herself as we all must.

Anyone who has struggled to believe in their dreams, and yet persevered, will relate to Alpert’s stories. Finding humor and truth in one’s life is not always easy, particularly when surviving a global pandemic or a heartbreaking relationship, but in Hello? Who Is This? Margaret? Alpert shows us how she did it—and leaves us wanting more.