Françoise Frenkel – författare

Året är 1921 när Françoise Frenkel, en ung polskjudisk kvinna, passionerad bokälskare och frankofil, öppnar den första franska bokhandeln i Berlin, "Bokens Hus". "Ingenstans att vila sitt huvud" är hennes berättelse om de tidiga, lyckliga åren med en trogen kundkrets och om de hot och förföljelser under den triumferande nazismen som några dagar före krigsutbrottet 1939 tvingar henne att överge sin älskade bokhandel och hastigt lämna Tyskland och fly till Frankrike. Där hoppas hon finna en fristad. Men efter den tyska ockupationen är det istället ett dramatiskt liv som flykting hon tvingas leva fram till den dag 1943 då hon i hemlighet lyckas ta sig över gränsen till Schweiz. Där börjar hon samma år skriva ner sina minnen som hon året därpå färdigställer till den bok som 1945 ges ut i Genève.

A PEOPLE BOOK OF THE WEEK WINNER OF THE JQ–WINGATE LITERARY PRIZE “A haunting tribute to survivors and those lost forever—and a reminder, in our own troubled era, never to forget.” —People An “exceptional” (The Wall Street Journal) and “poignant” (The New York Times) book in the tradition of rediscovered works like Suite Française and The Nazi Officer’s Wife, the powerful memoir of a fearless Jewish bookseller on a harrowing fight for survival across Nazi-occupied Europe.In 1921, Françoise Frenkel—a Jewish woman from Poland—fulfills a dream. She opens La Maison du Livre, Berlin’s first French bookshop, attracting artists and diplomats, celebrities and poets. The shop becomes a haven for intellectual exchange as Nazi ideology begins to poison the culturally rich city. In 1935, the scene continues to darken. First come the new bureaucratic hurdles, followed by frequent police visits and book confiscations. Françoise’s dream finally shatters on Kristallnacht in November 1938, as hundreds of Jewish shops and businesses are destroyed. La Maison du Livre is miraculously spared, but fear of persecution eventually forces Françoise on a desperate, lonely flight to Paris. When the city is bombed, she seeks refuge across southern France, witnessing countless horrors: children torn from their parents, mothers throwing themselves under buses. Secreted away from one safe house to the next, Françoise survives at the heroic hands of strangers risking their lives to protect her. Published quietly in 1945, then rediscovered nearly sixty years later in an attic, A Bookshop in Berlin is a remarkable story of survival and resilience, of human cruelty and human spirit. In the tradition of Suite Française and The Nazi Officer’s Wife, this book is the tale of a fearless woman whose lust for life and literature refuses to leave her, even in her darkest hours.

Initially published as No Place to Lay One's Head - the unforgettable story of one woman's struggle to survive persecution in wartime FranceIn 1921, Françoise Frenkel-a Jewish woman from Poland-opens Berlin's very first French bookshop. It is a dream come true. The bookshop attracts artists and diplomats, celebrities and poets. It brings Françoise peace, friendship and prosperity. Then, in the summer of 1939, the dream ends and Françoise's desperate, headlong flight from Nazi persecution begins.Unfolding in Berlin, Paris and against the romantic landscapes of southern France, A Bookshop in Berlin is a heartbreaking tale of human cruelty and unending kindness; and of a woman whose lust for life refuses to leave her, even in her darkest hours.