After a little hiatus (thanks to moving, losing summer childcare, general chaos, etc...), I'm back with another Writer's Corner Wednesday! Read on to find my conversation with author Zipora (Zipi) Klein Jakob, author of THE FORBIDDEN DAUGHTER: THE TRUE STORY OF A HOLOCAUST SURVIVOR (HarperCollins, 2024). This book is close to my heart, as it deals with a lot of the same themes and writerly issues as my current work-in-progress about Shoah survivor Dora Bursztajn Langsam. Zipi and I discussed her research process, chasing a book deal, translation, and the long but important process of writing this book about her cousin Elida.
Q. Elida's life was remarkable: filled with highs, lows, and, as you point out at the end of the book, so many tragedies. What was it, specifically, that made you want to write a book about her? Did you always know you wanted to write about her, or did something in particular inspire you?
A. I first heard about Elida, my cousin and the protagonist of the book, when I was a teenager. Over the years, I was always intrigued by the drama of her life and the fate of my family in the Holocaust, and I spent a lot of time studying this period of WWII. I became determined to write about Elida’s unique story in order to perpetuate her memory and describe the fate of children who survived the Holocaust but continued to pay the price of war.
Q. With so many holocaust survivor stories available on the market, why do you think THE FORBIDDEN DAUGHTER stands out? What makes Elida's story different?
A. As a regular reader of the testimonies of Holocaust survivors, and WWII memoirs and biographies, I’m always learning new information and gaining new insights on the history of the Holocaust. I believe that every encounter with personal stories like Elida’s contributes to preserving the memory of the Holocaust and makes a stronger impact than historical accounts that often lack the personal perspective. I think it’s even more crucial today to document this period of history and combat Holocaust denial as fewer and fewer survivors are still alive to tell their stories.
I think my book contributes to this effort. Moreover, I believe that the extraordinary circumstances of Elida’s “non-birth,” the changes in identity she underwent in her turbulent life, and her tragic demise (“born in fire and died in fire”) make her story stand out in the genre of Holocaust literature.
Q. What was your research and writing process like? What were some challenges you faced writing about Elida?
A. As noted above, I became determined to tell Elida’s story many years ago. When I reached a stage in life when I had more free time, I fulfilled this desire to tell her story. It took nine years of research and writing from the moment I decided to write the book until it was finally ready to be published.
I invested more time in research than in the actual writing. Until I began investigating, I only knew what I had heard from family stories and from my personal encounters with Elida. It was clear to me that in order to write an authentic account of her life, based on historical and personal events, I would have to “dig deep” into every possible source that could shed light on her personality and the key events in her life. Therefore, I interviewed family members and collected letters and family photographs. I read history books on the fate of Lithuanian Jewry during and after the Holocaust, as well as memoirs by other survivors who, like Elida, were children during the Holocaust.
As part of the effort to compile all of these sources, I made several trips to Texas and California, and I visited Vilna and Kovno. In Kovno, I met the Lithuanian family that sheltered Elida at their farm during the war and they gave me a treasure trove of invaluable information and documents.
The many challenges I faced while writing the book include: To what extent was I entitled to expose Elida’s inner world? To what extent was I entitled to write about the people in Elida’s life (her sons, adoptive parents, other relatives)? (I asked permission from all of the main characters in the story who were still alive). There was also the challenge of confirming all of the historical facts and familiarizing myself with the ways of life in Lithuania during and after the war.
Q. Tell me about the process of getting THE FORBIDDEN DAUGHTER published. How did you get readers interested in Elida's story? How did you get the attention of your publisher?
A. The book was originally written in Hebrew and entitled Elida: Daughter to Three Fathers and Four Mothers. Since the name Elida means “non-birth” in Hebrew, the choice of this name was significant. The book was privately published in Israel in 2020 during the coronavirus pandemic and its distribution was boosted by a favorable book review in one of the main newspapers in Israel, and through radio interviews and lectures at libraries, community centers and book groups. Books were purchased at these gatherings and the circle of readers broadened.
In parallel, the book was translated into English and published on Amazon. I participated in a book fair in London in October 2022 and met with an executive from HarperCollins who decided to purchase the translation rights. The book was then re-edited by HarperCollins in collaboration with me and with the assistance of an editor living in Israel. We changed the title of the book to better suit English speakers and also redesigned the book cover. HarpersCollins published the book in April 2024 and launched a marketing campaign. From time to time, I’m interviewed on media networks and asked to respond to questions from literary journals.
Q. What is one piece of advice you can give to other aspiring authors?
A. It is critically important to conduct thorough research. Don’t leave any stone unturned in trying to discover what gems might be hidden in the information you collect. Conduct interviews, read novels from the period, collect pictures, testimonies and official documents, tour the site of the events and do whatever else you can to shed light on the character, the setting in which she lived and the central events (public and private) of her life. The more you invest in research, the better the writing process will be.
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