Diane Botnick & Barbara Stark-Nemon
Refugees, Refuge, and the Jewish Identity: Two Author Presentation
Becoming Sarah:
Sarah Vogel invented herself. She had no choice. Born in Auschwitz to a mother who died, and sustained by numerous other women out of sheer will and hope, Sarah has no roots or history she can remember. Liberated at age three, adopted at six, Sarah goes on to live a determined, practical existence. To navigate it, she lets people believe the life story she tells. Better to have a past than none, right? Can she call herself a Survivor if she remembers nothing? Could this grainy photo in a book be her mother? But then her granddaughter, Moll, demands to know the truth. Told in multiple voices, and spanning 1945 into the near future, this is a story of generations of women struggling to understand their history, each other, and themselves.
Diane Botnick was born and raised in Akron, Ohio. She called New York City home for years, writing while working for various organizations in support of the arts. Becoming Sarah is her debut novel. She and her husband currently live in Cold Spring, New York.
Isabela’s Way:
In early-seventeenth-century Portugal, Spain, France, and Germany, dangers are plentiful—especially for those of Jewish heritage. Non-Catholics have been expelled from Spain, and the Inquisition has come to Portugal to impose its prohibitions. Fourteen-year-old Isabela, an obedient “New Christian” with a talent for needlework, believes she has nothing to fear from the Inquisition. When a mysterious woman arrives with a message from Isabela’s absent father, the girl must leave her home and embroider her way along the clandestine network of sanctuaries created to conduct Conversos, to safety. A host of supporters, and one special young man, assist Isabela as she escapes and makes her way across countries and cultures. As she travels, she learns of the danger and importance of her work and is shocked to discover her family’s true origins. In this enthralling coming-of-age tale of resistance, love, and danger, Isabela employs her talent and fierce determination to find her way.
Barbara Stark-Nemon is the award-winning author of short stories, essays, the historical novel Even in Darkness, and the contemporary novel Hard Cider. Barbara lives, writes, swims, cycles, and does fiber art in Ann Arbor and Northport, MI.