In 1930s Berlin, Eli G. is an abstracted young Jewish painter addled by Marxist idealism and tangled memories of his mother and the shtetl. Longing to move to Paris, Eli feverishly paints maps and watches the baby while his wife Vera gives up her ambition of becoming a doctor and works as an accountant. This is where Not Not a Jew - A Novella in Verst, by Alison Leslie Gold, begins, wryly shadowing the life arcs of Eli, Vera, and their son Ira who are depicted in glistening kaleidoscopic shards. Although Ira tries to lose himself through sex, food, and restless travel, he returns to his parents to grapple with his birthright as their lives are ending. In Not Not a Jew, internationally acclaimed Holocaust writer Alison Leslie Gold presents a boldly surrealistic novella that explores Jewish identity, rootlessness, Diaspora and self-absorption in a century of upheaval and annihilation.
Author Biography:
Alison Leslie Gold has published fiction including Clairvoyant, The Imagined Life of Lucia Joyce. Jay Parini said about it: "A vividly written book that plays daringly in the no-mans-land between biography and fiction." A reviewer in the New York Times summed up another novel The Devil's Mistress: The Diary of Eva Braun, The Woman Who Lived and Died With Hitler as follows: "It's hard to forget a novel that spreads across the imagination like a mysterious and evil stain." This book was nominated for the National Book Award. Her nonfiction writing on the Holocaust and World War II has received special recognition. Among those who have singled her out as a protector and chronicler of Holocaust experiences is Elie Wiesel, who said of her: "Let us give recognition to Alison Gold. Without her and her talent of persuasion, without her writer's talent, too, this poignant account, vibrating with humanity, would not have been written." Her works include Anne Frank Remembered, The Story of the Woman Who Helped to Hide Anne Frank, written with and about Miep Gies, who hid Anne Frank and rescued Anne's diary and Memories of Anne Frank: Reflections of a Childhood Friend, written for young people about Hannah "Lies" Goslar, Anne Frank's best friend. Both books are international best sellers translated into more than twenty languages. Neither. Also for young people, A Special Fate, about Chiune Sugihara the little-known Japanese diplomat who saved 6,000 Jews and others during the war. The nonfiction book Fiet's Vase and Other Stories of Survival, Europe 1939-1945, 25 interviews with survivors, is her farewell to that subject matter, and, Love in the Second Act, 25 true stories of those who have found love later in life, is the first book exploring less dispiriting themes. Most recently she was invited to write a short work for the Cahier Series, titled "Lost and Found" soon followed by the publication of a literary novel The Woman Who Brought Matisse Back from the Dead, and a family story of alcoholic intervention for ages 10-13 co-authored with Darin Elliott - Elephant in the Living Room. Her nonfiction work has received awards ranging from the Best of the Best Award given by the American Library Association, to a Merit of Educational Distinction Award by the ADL, and a Christopher Award affirming the highest values of the human spirit. She divides her time between New York and an island in Greece.
