AUTHOR CHAT w/ Lauren Grodstein - We Must Not Think of Ourselves

*THE TODAY SHOW READ WITH JENNA DECEMBER 2023 PICK*
Listen in to hear more about this Holocaust historical preservation act that most don't know about. Lauren does an amazing and thoughtful job discussing a topic that is hard to read but should be learned and remembered. Find out how she is similar to Adam, her love of poetry, how she used her research to create the stories within the ghetto, does she half full or half-empty outlook, how do you keep writing a novel like this during COVID and of course she even landed on writing this topic/novel.
Inspired by a little-known piece of history-the underground group that kept an archive to ensure that the lives of Jewish occupants of the Warsaw Ghetto in World War II were not lost to history-this is a heart-wrenching novel of love and defiance that People calls "gripping, emotional, and against all odds, hopeful."
“This book is a masterpiece: profound, gripping, urgent, and beautiful.” -Madeline Miller, New York Times bestselling author of Circe and The Song of Achilles
On a November day in 1940, Adam Paskow becomes a prisoner in the Warsaw Ghetto, where the Jews of the city are cut off from their former lives and held captive by Nazi guards to await an uncertain fate. Weeks later, he is approached by a mysterious figure with a surprising request: Would he join a secret group of archivists working to preserve the truth of what is happening inside these walls?
Adam agrees and begins taking testimonies from his students, friends, and neighbors. He learns about their childhoods and their daydreams, their passions and their fears, their desperate strategies for safety and survival. The stories form a portrait of endurance in a world where no choices are good ones.
One of the people Adam interviews is his flatmate Sala Wiskoff, who is stoic, determined, and funny-and married with two children. Over the months of their confinement, in the presence of her family, Adam and Sala fall in love. As they desperately carve out intimacy, their relationship feels both impossible and vital, their connection keeping them alive.
But when Adam discovers a possible escape from the Ghetto, he is faced with an unbearable choice: whom can he save, and at what cost ?
Inspired by the testimony-gathering project with the code name Oneg Shabbat, New York Times bestselling author Lauren Grodstein draws readers into the lives of people living on the edge. Told with immediacy and heart, We Must Not Think of Ourselves is a piercing story of love, determination, and sacrifice.

[@annissaarmstrong6704]

Great event!!!

[@carolrinke202]

So glad you record these because I could not be there and the talk so enriches the reading experience. Thank you.

[@lbtheloverofbooks]

@@carolrinke202 I agree! I get so much out of these chats and think about the books so much longer because of it.