Gaelle Lehrer Kennedy worked as an actress and writer in
film and television in the United States
and Israel. Night
in Jerusalem is her debut
novel, which she has adapted to film. She lives in Ojai California
with her husband and daughter.
She writes, “I lived in Israel
in the 1960s, a naive twenty-year-old, hoping to find myself and my place in
the world. The possibility of war was remote to me. I imagined the tensions in
the region would somehow be resolved peacefully. Then, the Six Day War erupted
and I experienced it firsthand in Jerusalem.
I have drawn Night in Jerusalem
from my experiences during that time. The historical events portrayed in the
novel are accurate. The characters are based on people I knew in the city. Like
me, they were struggling to make sense of their lives, responding to inherited
challenges they could not escape that shaped their destiny in ways they and the
entire Middle East could not have imagined.
I have always been intrigued by the miraculous. How and
where the soul’s journey leads and how it reveals its destiny. How two people
who are destined, even under the threat of war and extinction, can find one
another.
Israel’s
Six Day War is not a fiction; neither was the miracle of its victory. What
better time to discover love through intrigue, passion, and the miraculous.
Writing this story was in part reliving my history in Israel,
in part a mystical adventure. I am grateful that so many who have read Night In
Jerusalem have experienced this as well.”
WEBSITE & SOCIAL LINKS:
WEBSITE | TWITTER | FACEBOOK
Title:
NIGHT IN JERUSALEM
Author: Gaelle Lehrer Kennedy
Publisher: PKZ Inc.
Pages: 246
Genre: Historical Romance
A bewitching love
story that is also an extraordinary portrait of Jerusalem, its faith, spirituality, identity, and
kaleidoscope of clashing beliefs, Night in Jerusalem is a novel of mystery, beauty, historical
insight, and sexual passion.
David Bennett is
invited to Jerusalem in 1967 by his
cousin who, to the alarm of his aristocratic British family, has embraced
Judaism. He introduces David to his mentor, Reb Eli, a revered sage in the
orthodox community. Despite his resistance to religious teaching, David becomes
enthralled by the rabbi’s wisdom and compassionate presence. When David
discloses a sexual problem, Reb Eli unwittingly sets off a chain of events that
transforms his life and the life of the mysterious prostitute, Tamar, who, in a
reprise of an ancient biblical story, leads both men to an astonishing realization.
As passions rise, the Six Day War erupts, reshaping the lives of everyone
caught up in it.
ORDER YOUR COPY:
Amazon | Barnes & Noble
Thank you for this interview! I’d like to know more about you as a person
first. What do you do when you’re not
writing?
I read a lot, of course. I love stories that are
told simply, where the writer is unobtrusive and the characters and plot say it
all. I think it was Einstein who said it is easy to make something complicated,
but it takes genius to make things simple. Einstein gets blamed for a lot of
stuff, I know, but you get the drift – there’s a simple that takes mastery to
achieve. It is hard to write stories that are so clear and transparent you can
see right into the souls of the characters. That’s what works for me. I don’t
care what the genre is. If it does that, I’m in! I like that kind of simple in
everything, from the way my garden is laid out, to how my furniture is
arranged. I love walking in nature, listening to the birds, and, especially if
water is involved, I am in heaven.
When did you start writing?
I started writing at about 30, pretty much as
soon as I got a sense of who I am. I had been working as an actress, and before
that as a model. I knew the arts were for me. The thing that drew me to writing
was that I could do it all myself without anyone telling me what my part was or
where I had to fit in. I’ve always responded best to the beat of my own drum,
which I can hear loud and clear most days.
As a published author, what would you say was
the most pivotal point of your writing life?
I studied creative writing at Columbia and came
to appreciate the astonishing virtuosity of our writers. But the pivotal shift
for me came when I realized I am not at all interested in writing for its own
sake. Sometimes, I find the writing can get in the way of the work. The writing
I love is where the writer becomes invisible. I found it hugely liberating to
disappear into my characters and their world. I have never looked back.
If you could go anywhere in the world to start
writing your next book, where would that be and why?
I’d go to Connemara in Ireland. It was home to
John O’Donohue, a poet who lights up my life. He talks about “landscape as
presence” and celebrates the spiritual connection of Celtic culture with the
natural world, where every brook and feature of the land has a name, a history
and a divinity. I have always been affected by the energy of place. I am
inspired by the mists and shades of the British Isles and the accents and
wordplay of the natives. It makes me want to write!
If you had 4 hours of extra time today, what
would you do?
I’d go to a nearby beach. It’s across railroad
tracks and a scramble down a cliff, so it gets left alone a lot - but not by
the seals. I love bodies of water. Here in Southern California, the most accessible
one is the Pacific Ocean. Not too shabby!
Where would you like to set a story that you
haven’t done yet?
Egypt. I spent 2 months there and it felt like
déjà vu, especially sailing down the Nile, while in Luxor.
Back to your present book, Night In Jerusalem,
how did you publish it?
I self-published, using a talented designer who
turned my manuscript into an elegant book.
In writing your book, did you travel anywhere
for research?
The book draws on my experience in Jerusalem
around the time of the Six Day War. I spent the best part of 10 years in the
city and wanted to capture how it was when I was there. The neighborhoods and
important landmarks have not changed much. I checked with Google maps to make
sure I had the street names right and, where there were discrepancies,
confirmed my recollection with friends who still live there. Aside from having
the geography laid out accurately, it was important for the book to capture the
feeling of the city at that time, so the main travelling I did was back through
time, to connect with the energy of the place and its people when their
everyday survival was not taken for granted, despite thousands of years of
presence. The city embodies the spiritual practice at the heart of much of our
civilization and is an architectural wonder in its own right. In some ways, it
is with all of us, wherever we are.
Why was writing Night In Jerusalem so
important to you?
Winston Churchill wrote that there is nothing as
exhilarating as when someone shoots at you and misses. When I went to Israel, I
was a naive twenty-year-old. To me, the possibility of war was remote. I
imagined the tensions in the region would somehow be resolved peacefully. When
the Six Day War erupted. I experienced it firsthand. I remember as if it was yesterday
the time I spent in shelters with other women, listening to Arab news reports
on the radio proclaiming victory while we contemplated how we would end it for
ourselves. It turned out, of course, that the war went the other way. We were
to live! Jerusalem was re-unified! Now, that was exhilarating. At the same
time, the search for peace, the endless arguments about what it should look
like, and the courageous, impossible loves that thrived despite all odds - the
themes of Night In Jerusalem - have been with me my entire life. I do
not have answers to the questions they bring up: why does it take such courage
to truly love, how impossible it seems to bring peace to the world, and, of
course, why “God works in mysterious ways.” The characters in the book, and
their responses to the challenges they encounter, express different points of
view that I share, even as they conflict with each other. I want the book to
show how these differences can be contained in fulfilled and inspiring lives,
and how happiness depends on us embracing our individual destiny, not on
following any prescribed path. Night In Jerusalem speaks with the voice
of my heart.
Where do you get your best ideas and why do you
think that is?
The love story in Night In Jerusalem came
to me on a movie set. We were filming on a blazingly hot day, dressed as
lightly as possible, the men stripped to the waist. An orthodox woman in long
black clothes and a wig kept coming out to look at us from her balcony. I
sensed how strongly she yearned for contact. The gap between us could have been
crossed in a few paces, yet we were centuries apart. I imagined what it was
like to be her, what courage it would take for her to break free, how she might
do it. Decades later I wrote the book. I pay attention to people and imagine
their stories. They are everywhere.
you will probably be given your newly-prepared academic pieces of paper in the twinkling associated with an eye!
ReplyDeletehttps://eliteessaywriters.com/