Temple Judea. March 7, 2013. 7:30 p.m.
What is the worst thing a person can do? Can one ever atone for a heinous act? And who, in the end, has the power to forgive?
These are the questions at the heart of Jodi Picoult’s astonishing, philosophical new novel, The Storyteller, which takes readers on two parallel journeys through the Holocaust: one with a Jewish girl from Lódź trying to survive and one with a German boy who becomes the personification of evil, a Nazi.
Jodi Picoult’s extensive research for this novel included lengthy interviews with survivors, as well as guidance by Dr. Peter Black, Senior Historian at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, who read sections for accuracy. In addition, she obtained the help of Eli Rosenbaum, a real-live Nazi hunter in the Department of Justice, who continues to search out and prosecute those who committed war crimes.
Despite all that has been written about the Holocaust, Picoult renders anew the hatred and the horrors, causing readers to gasp at the sheer brutality on display, as well as at the moments of humanity that enable some people to live one more day. In a remarkable feat, she takes readers into the mind of a Nazi, explaining how he justifies his acts of horror. And she takes us into the heart of a survivor, who had to learn to forgive in order to keep living.
Jodi Picoult, 46, is one of the top selling novelists in the world with multiple #1 bestsellers in the United States, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Australia, and South Africa. My Sister’s Keeper was a 2009 New Line Cinema movie directed by Nick Cassavetes and starring Cameron Diaz and Abigail Breslin. She has been nominated for three different British book awards and, for her body of work; Picoult was awarded The New England Bookseller Award for Fiction in 2003. She is also the recipient of Honorary Doctorates from Dartmouth and University of New Haven.
Born and raised on Long Island, Picoult studied creative writing with Mary Morris at Princeton, and had two short stories published in Seventeen while still a student. After graduation, Picoult held a number of different jobs before entering Harvard to pursue a master’s in education. She married Tim Van Leer, whom she had known at Princeton, and it was while she was pregnant with her first child that she wrote her first novel, Songs of the Humpback Whale. She and Tim live in Hanover, NH with their three children.
Vouchers for this event are now available at Books & Books in Coral Gables, Miami Beach and Bal Harbour Shops. The price of the book ($28 + tax) entitles you to receive (1) one copy of The Storyteller and also serves as your entry for (2) two people to Jodi Picoult’s talk and book signing at Temple Judea. The Storyteller will be published on February 26 and you may claim your copy of the book any time after publication at a Books & Books location, or at the event on March 7. Your voucher will be stamped to reflect whether or not you have claimed your book. You must show your voucher and attached receipt to claim entrance to the event, so please remember to bring it with you that day.
Temple Judea
5500 Granada Boulevard
Coral Gables, FL 33146
305.667.7243
www.judeagables.org
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