Description

This is the story of the ordinary extraordinary life of Dr Elena Zadik.

‘Each page of this book contains treasures’ – Lizzy Stewart, author of Alison

Lives were bent in the furnaces of the twentieth century, but Elena Zadik was unbroken. With a stethoscope, a jar of herring and a hearing aid occasionally switched on, she forged an extraordinary life. Elena ran through the twentieth century without looking back.

A refugee twice before she was 17, she broke glass ceilings to become a doctor during World War 2. She was as brilliant a doctor as she was terrible a driver (she never took a test). Finding community, falling in love and starting a family in Sheffield while her parents were imprisoned and killed in Auschwitz, she swam against the odds with courage and tenacity.

Miriam gathers the threads of her Granny’s story, reflecting on their unconventional relationship and how trauma travels down through the generations in this gorgeous brocade of illustration and collage.

Granny was an unintentionally hilarious woman, often difficult, always opinionated and deeply resourceful. Her hands were always busy and form the heart of this timely, irresistible graphic story of the ordinary extraordinary resilience of women.

A heartfelt and charming graphic memoir of love, family and fearless women.

Publisher Review

The deeply affecting life of Miriam Gold’s grandmother has found its most radiant storyteller. Tender, funny and triumphant, the exquisite depiction of these personal memories deserves the widest readership — Simon Garfield, author of All the Knowledge in the World The story of one extraordinary ordinary woman wrapped up in the change and chaos of the twentieth century, told with great care, kindness and no small amount of playfulness. Each page of this book contains treasures. — Lizzy Stewart, author of Alison I read this rare gem in one sitting, captivated by a heroine whose inspiring life and handiwork could have been lost to history were it not for a granddaughter with a very different life, and very different work to do, but performed with hands no less loving, painstaking, restorative. A beautiful evocation of the enigma of transmission, transformation and survival. — Devorah Baum, author of On Marriage A warm, perceptive tribute to Miriam Gold’s doughty Jewish grandmother, whose grit and knitting needles carried her through displacement, war, tragedy and hardship. — Posy Simmonds