Lev Raphael

LEV RAPHAEL

‘Lev Raphael's new novel is a powerful, haunting, erotic tale.’ Linda Fairstein (The Bone Vault)

Lev Raphael was born in 1954 in New York City. He is the author of thirteen books and known internationally as one of our foremost chroniclers of the lives of the children of Holocaust survivors. Winner of the Lamda Literary Fiction Award, among other prizes, his short works have appeared in two dozen anthologies, including American Jewish Fiction: A Century of Stories. He is a book critic for National Public Radio and 'Mysteries' columnist for the Detroit Free Press. For more information visit www.levraphael.com.

Praise for The German Money:

‘What a gift for a writer to be able to sustain unflagging, sweaty-palm suspense in a novel almost through character alone. This is what the prodigious Lev Raphael pulls off in The German Money...one of the most powerful suspense novels in years, a kind of Kafka meets Philip Roth meets le Carré.’ The Washington Post

‘This novel is a finely executed quest, a voyage of discovery, and at last a hopeful tribute to the ability of the damaged human heart to heal. Raphael’s talent for physical description is outstanding, but his ability to capture the emotional picture of life among the ruins is unequaled.’ The Detroit Jewish News

‘If you’re starving for a short, powerful novel, buy Lev Raphael’s latest book, The German Money, a potent, contemporary story about the complicated lives of three Jewish siblings, descendants of a mother who survived the death factories of the Holocaust, and had a closely guarded a terrible secret, the kind that tears lives apart. Raphael carefully escorts his readers into the sad, touching lives of the siblings, then expertly guides us among the powerful scenes.’ Fort Worth Star Telegram

‘This is a very intimate book. Bright and creative. Unexpected and significant. For a man who has spent his life refusing to accept that the Holocaust has anything to do with him, inheriting these funds feels like anything but a blessing. Eventually the truth reveals itself in a shocking conclusion. Having recognized that truth, I was wrapped up in Paul's journey and found it quite compelling.’ Jewish Book World

'I agree with Kafka when he says ‘A book must be the ax for the frozen sea within us’, especially when it comes to book club reading. If you don't find your world rocked and your assumptions challenged, then what will there be to discuss? This is an intense novel that insists its reader fall into a world filled with secrets and silences, the world, in fact, of many children of Holocaust survivors. Readers will know what it is to be an angry and embittered young Jewish man who has spent the better part of his life running from something that happened over fifty years ago, to a completely different person. The German Money wields a sharp axe at a vast frozen sea, indeed.’ Nicki Leone, FM, North Carolina Public Radio

Bibliography

Fiction
Winter Eyes (1992)

Collection of Short Stories
Dancing on Tisha B’Av (1990)

Mysteries
Let’s Get Criminal (1996)
The Edith Wharton Murders (1997)
The Death of a Constant Lover (1999)
Little Miss Evil (2000)
Burning Down the House (2001)

Biography/Criticism
Edith Wharton’s Prisoners of Shame (1991)

Collection of Essays
Journeys & Arrivals (1996)

Co-authored books
Dynamics of Power (1993)
Stick Up for Yourself! (1990)
A Teacher’s Guide to Stick Up for Yourself! (1995)
Coming Out of Shame (1996)

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