🎤︎︎ New Five Books Episode: Sharon Kurtzman on the Danger that Lingered Post Holocaust

Sharon Kurtzman shares how an interview with her mother became a defining moment of connection. She was haunted by her mother’s description of just how much danger still lingered after surviving the Holocaust and that revelation became central to her writing of The Lost Baker of Vienna, set in the years after WWII between liberation and immigration.

She also shares how a childhood reading of Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret planted the seed for her to define her own Jewish identity, and how writing her debut novel fulfilled a promise she made to her mother.

The Lost Baker of Vienna weaves together two timelines: postwar Vienna and present-day America. When Zoe Rosenzweig loses her beloved grandfather, a Holocaust survivor, she becomes determined to uncover the truth about her family’s past. Meanwhile, in 1946 Vienna, her grandmother Chana bakes through grief and danger, caught between love, hunger, and the lingering threat of violence.

Sharon Kurtzman worked in television marketing before pursuing her dream of becoming a writer. Her work has appeared in numerous literary journals and anthologies and has been nominated for the Pushcart prize.

Click on the graphic above to listen!

Sharon Kurtzman’s Five Books

1. Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret by Judy Blume

2. The History of Love by Nicole Krauss

3. The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

4. The Correspondent by Virginia Evans

5. The Lost Baker of Vienna by Sharon Kurtzman

What Else We’re Reading Now:

On a related theme, the new dual memoir Sons of Survivors: Making Peace with Inherited Trauma by Aron Hirt-Manheimer and Marty Yura is out today. The book traces their childhood friendship and the unspoken ways the Holocaust shaped their lives. Only later, as older adults, did they begin to talk openly about it—embarking on a journey to uncover everything they could about what happened to their parents and other relatives in Poland during World War II.

We hope you enjoy this week’s episode! Tell us what you think at [email protected] or by replying to this email!

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