Dear Book Club Members,
Some of you will have already met Jennifer Steil, the author who we have the good fortune to count as an AWG member. She has agreed to present her novel, Exile Music at a special meeting on Thursday, November 21st 10.30-12.00 at MEL – 23 rue Lakanal – Montpellier. Tram stop Corum or Louis Blanc.
MEL has copies of all three of Jennifer's books. Any Book Group members can go to MEL and borrow them on a first come/first served basis, with the proviso that we ask that they be read and returned in a quick turnaround, so that other people get a chance to read them before Jennifer S' presentation. You will find them on a shelf marked "Wendy Harding / AWG Book Group." Exile Music is also available in all formats, including Amazon Kindle.
The novel recounts the story of a young girl growing up in Vienna in the 1930s, in a musical family. Only vaguely aware of Hitler's rise or how her Jewish heritage will define her family's identity, Orly spends her days immersed in play with her best friend, Anneliese. In 1938, her tranquil existence shatters when the Germans arrive. She flees with her mother and father to La Paz, a city high up in the Bolivian Andes. At the end of the war, Orly must choose between the place she left behind and the one she has come to love.
