Q&A: 'Night in Jerusalem' Historical Fiction Author Gaelle Lehrer Kennedy @GaelleLKennedy
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.”
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Q: Welcome to The Writer's
Life! Now that your book has been
published, we’d love to find out more about the process. Can we begin by having you take us at the
beginning? Where did you come up with
the idea to write your book?
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
while complying with the dress code of the location, which meant long sleeves,
pants and skirts. One of the crew opened his shirt revealing his handsome,
muscled chest. An orthodox woman in long black clothes and a wig kept coming
out to look at us from her Night In Jerusalem – are questions that have remained with me
vividly ever since.
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. So far as setting the love story during the Six Day War, Winston
Churchill wrote that there is nothing so exhilarating as when someone shoots at
you and misses. When the Six Day War erupted. I experienced it firsthand. I
spent days 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
Q: How hard was it to write a
book like this and do you have any tips that you could pass on which would make
the journey easier for other writers?
Night In Jerusalem is my first novel. Previously, I have written
screenplays. They are, of course, visually-oriented and provide limited
opportunity for the writer to describe the characters’ states of mind - everything
has to show on the screen. I was drawn to writing a novel because the canvas
can be so much larger –as big as you like -
and the story does not have to fit a budget. However, the relationship
with the reader is more intimate and complete, and there’s a challenge to meet
there. The sex scenes were the hardest to write. Aside from adjusting to the
form of a novel, I also had to be very deliberate about my writing style. I
studied creative writing at Columbia
and appreciate the virtuosity of many writers, but I love novels 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 things complicated, but it
takes genius to make them simple. 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, and it is what I strive for.
Q: Who is
your publisher and how did you find them or did you self-publish?
I self-published Night In Jerusalem.
Q: Is there
anything that surprised you about getting your first book published?
Going into this project, I had no
idea how pivotal an editor is. After working for months, on and off, with the
editor of Night In Jerusalem, I would
never consider publishing a book without a strong and talented editor.
Q: What other
books (if any) are you working on and when will they be published?
I am working on a novel about the middle class in America
and what happened in the last recession when millions were thrown into life
altering changes they are still trying to work out. I expect to complete the
first draft by the end of this year. Based on my experience with Night In Jerusalem, it is likely to be
eighteen months before it is published.
Q: What’s one
fact about your book that would surprise people?
It is not uncommon for visitors
to Jerusalem to fall under the
spell of an unseen presence that pervades the city. They can have compelling
visions of religious archetypes and become convinced they are experiencing a
spiritual breakthrough. Psychiatrists
call it the “Jerusalem Syndrome,” and think of it more as a breakdown than a
breakthrough. I have always been affected by the energy of place, and never
more so than in Jerusalem. Its
mysterious world is the wellspring of Night
In Jerusalem.
Q: Finally,
what message (if any) are you trying to get across with your book?
The themes in 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.
Q: Thank you
again for this interview! Do you have
any final words?
Thank you for interviewing me and for your interest in new
books and writers, and the amazing world we are making together.
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