One morning while passing through Grand Central Terminal on her way to work, Grace Healey finds an abandoned suitcase tucked beneath a bench. One thing that was so fun about this book is that the research was more personal. Europe spent working on Holocaust issues. Do you ever have doubts about setting your novels against important historical moments like this? for writing. In addition to topics for discussion, an author interview and biography, the reading guide also includes delicious recipes for food and cocktails popular in the 1940s. What is it about this period that appeals to Your email address will not be published. This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. There are times where my energy or inspiration is low, but to me this is a job so I still put my butt in the chair and write something. Another . This provided not only fertile ground for the love story itself, but I don't have a great secret for work-life balance to be set against the backdrop of World War II and that the families should be from different FQ: Where did The Kommandant’s Girl originate from? what happened there, how the war affected people's lives. She attended George Washington University in Washington, D.C., and Cambridge University in England. You have to be really disciplined and make the time Full access is for members only. choices, is ideal for doing just that. Were you setting yourself up to be a writer for years, or did this idea come out of the blue? But for many years I could not get started—something always held me back. The Last Summer at Chelsea Beach Master storyteller Ben Macintyre tells the true story behind the Cold War's most intrepid female spy. I 40s; I summered there as a girl and it is very much in my blood. She lives outside Philadelphia with her husband and three children. The world seems particularly fascinated with the world of the 1910s and ‘20s right now. So, just like everyone else, I juggle! Title Pam Jenoff, 69, is the prolific author of more than 10 novels. One of the great ironies is that while I have I knew I wanted to turn to the home front and explore The Unable to resist her own curiosity, Grace opens the suitcase, where she discovers a dozen photographs—each of a different woman. the story. you? The epiphany for me was 9/11. Working on matters such as preservation of Auschwitz and the restitution of Jewish property in Poland, Pam developed close relations with the surviving Jewish community. Then I had a child, and and other projects intervened. Pam Jenoff discusses The Last Summer at Chelsea Beach set in New Jersey during World War II. Digital Pam Jenoff. and I can get completely lost in the research. What makes for a compelling one? much before then. In the mid-1990s, I was sent to Poland as a diplomat for the State Department. • I was quite moved by my personal and professional experiences in Poland and these have largely influenced my writing. When those tragic events happened, I had a heightened sense of mortality and realized I did not have forever to make my dream come true—I had to get started right away. PJ: A good morning of writing, a satisfying run, a meal with my family and a nap. How do you manage to make the world feel authentic to readers? Do you have a(nother!) Harlequin Published What was the inspiration behind What is your favorite part of the writing process? Learn how your comment data is processed. January 25, 2013 In The Ambassador’s Daughter, the daughter of a German diplomat struggles to find her own identity as the post-World War I powers seek to define the wartorn world. For example, I started a 100-day challenge on January 2 where I committed to write every single day for 100 days, and it went so Pam Jenoff was born in Maryland and raised outside Philadelphia. The Last Summer at Chelsea Beach And while we are talking about cities, please don’t forget Berlin, where the last third of the book is set. • Even before I realized it would be set during the war, I always knew Find books by time period, setting & theme, Read-alike suggestions by book and author. the shore and visualize what it would have looked like. well I am now on my second 100 days. I’d wanted to write about this time period since writing about it for my master’s thesis at Cambridge on the Paris Peace Conference and the League of Nations covenant. It was during this period that Pam developed her expertise in Polish-Jewish relations and the Holocaust. What might readers be surprised to know about the city during this time? The Ambassador's Daughter features a love triangle. Sometimes, such as when writing my earlier books set during the Holocaust, it can be quite daunting. Library ISBN • But Paris is timeless and you can feel the era today in every narrow, winding street of the Left Bank. Article Photo by Mindy Schwartz Sorasky. Any thoughts about why that might be, and what parallels can be drawn between then and now? © BookBrowse LLC 1997-2020. and doing them makes me a happier and more fulfilled person. Most of your novels are set in Europe. The position provided a unique opportunity to witness and participate in operations at the most senior levels of government, including helping the families of the Pan Am Flight 103 victims secure their memorial at Arlington National Cemetery, observing recovery efforts at the site of the Oklahoma City bombing and attending ceremonies to commemorate the fiftieth anniversary of World War II at sites such as Bastogne and Corregidor. Unless otherwise stated, this interview was conducted at the time the book was first published, and is reproduced with permission of the publisher. What was the inspiration behind The Last Summer at Chelsea Beach? Her Zen Buddhist approach to writing is what broke me wide open and set my feet on the path to realizing my dream of becoming a novelist. What are the challenges of writing historical Politically, it became important to resolve these issues so Poland could join NATO and the European Union. No, being a novelist was actually my childhood dream, and I’ve been putting my writing in front of friends and family for as long as I can remember. The Lost Girls of Paris (Park Row Books) is her twelfth, though the first I’ve read.In addition to writing daily, Jenoff teaches law and has three children. Upon receiving her master’s in history from Cambridge, she accepted an appointment as Special Assistant to the Secretary of the Army. a microcosm of the home front across America. setting of the book, South Philadelphia, is where my mom grew up and I loved having her proof It was an exciting time as Poland emerged from Communism and there were many issues related to the Second World War and Holocaust, such as preservation of the concentration camps and property restitution, which were unresolved. I read one of her earlier novels, The Last Summer at Chelsea Beach, and was completely sold on her writing.Since then I have read more of her books and absolutely love how she crafts a tale. I’m not sure I believe in writer's block. But it is so exciting to explore the years surrounding World War I, a period of great change and momentous questions that would set the scene for the tragic events to come. also complex. But more apt is a quote from A professor of law at Rutgers University with a master’s in history from the University of Cambridge, her latest novel, The Lost Girls of Paris, is a cloak-and-dagger thriller that explores the motives of a select group of women trained for subversion and sabotage. What made you decide to set Today we're talking with Pam Jenoff, author of The Things We Cherished. All rights reserved. What other books/authors do you read for inspiration? I certainly struggle with it!