Additional information
by Melanie Levensohn (Author)
Inspired by true events and set against the backdrop of the Second World War, Melanie Levensohn's A Jewish Girl in Paris is a powerful novel about forbidden love.
'This beautiful, heart-wrenching novel examines the harsh realities while remaining hopeful and celebrating resilience and love.' - Adele Parks author of Lies Lies Lies, in Platinum Magazine Paris, 1940, a city under German occupation. A young Jewish girl, Judith, meets a young man, the son of a wealthy banker and Nazi sympathizer - his family will never approve of the girl he has fallen in love with. As the Germans impose more and more restrictions on Jewish Parisians, the couple secretly plan to flee the country. But before they can make their escape, Judith disappears . . . Montréal, 1982. Shortly before his death, Lica Grunberg confesses to his daughter, that she has an older half-sister, Judith. Lica escaped the Nazis but lost all contact with his first-born daughter. His daughter promises to find the sister she never knew. The search languishes for years, until Jacobina is spurred on by her young friend Béatrice. Soon the two women discover a dark family secret, stretching over two continents and six decades, that will change their lives forever . . . Adapted from a translation by Jamie Lee Searle, A Jewish Girl in Paris is a historical novel for fans of The Tattooist of Auschwitz. 'In this vivid, affecting novel of intertwined destinies and the enduring power of love against the bleakest odds, Levensohn weaves a tale saturated with historical accuracy and yet surprisingly intimate' - Paula McLain, author of The Paris Wife and When the Stars Go DarkAuthor Biography
A German and U.S. national, Melanie Levensohn studied literature and international relations in France and Chile. She earned her master's degree from the Institut d'Etudes Politiques (Sciences Po) in Paris. Later she became a spokesperson for the World Health Organization in Geneva, Switzerland, and travelled to some of the most complex political hotspots around the world. She reported from Liberia during the civil war in 2003 and was based in Amman, Jordan, as a UN spokesperson during the Iraq war. From 2006-2013 Melanie worked as a communications expert at the World Bank in Washington, D.C., managing corporate external relations for the Caribbean region with a special focus on reconstruction and development Haiti in the wake of the devastating earthquake in 2010. When she got married, Melanie joined her husband in the Napa Valley, California, where they created an award winning estate wine over ten years. In 2021, they moved back to Geneva.
