Author Name: Martin Fletcher
OBOJC Book Title: The List
Have you published another book since your OBOJC book? If so, what is the title? Can you briefly describe the book? If you have another book due out soon, please tell us about that one and the estimated publication date.
Jacob’s Oath, 2013. Tells the story of two Holocaust survivors who go home to Heidelberg after the war and fall in love, the only two Jews in town. But a promise Jacob made to his dying brother to kill the SS guard who beat him to death threatens his future love and happiness. Booklist called the book “A small gem of a novel.”
The War Reporter, 2015. Two journalists suffering from PTSD join to make a documentary on the man who nearly killed them twelve years earlier. The closer they get to him, the more different forces try to stop them as they enter a web of diplomatic intrigue. Their growing love finally enables them to face their own demons together.
Israel – Living the Dream, 2017. The title may change! I’m writing it now – the first novel in a Trilogy that will follow two brothers from 1948 until today. One boy escaped Germany to America in 1937, the other survived the concentration camps. Their family is killed but they reunite in Palestine in 1946 where Arie becomes a business giant, and Peter a top Mossad agent. Their different experiences lead to a continuing love-hate relationship that reflects the growth of Israel. Each novel covers about twenty years. I think of the Trilogy as Dallas meets Exodus!
What book(s) are you reading now that you would like to recommend to our community?
I’m rereading Tom Jones by Henry Fielding. He wrote it 250 years ago yet it is still one of the great stories of all time, that follows a familiar formula: Boy meets girl, boy loses girl, boy gets girl back again. Fielding is such a great writer that he leaves you desperate to know more, while rereading each sentence.
Please share your memories about OBOJC and what the experience meant to you.
I remember the excitement of my editor at Macmillan when she told me that OBOJC had selected my first novel to be its community read. She was over the moon and when I understood what it meant, so was I. First, it was a great affirmation of my determination to write fiction, which had been my life-long ambition. Second, the actual event was easily the best organized book event I have ever attended. There was real enthusiasm for books and what made it incredible was they were talking about MY book. It’s a wonderful feeling to know that people like the product of a year’s isolation. And most of all, I loved skyping with book clubs which brought the excitement to a one-on-one level.
Please attach a favorite recipe (or the name of a favorite dish) and tell us why it is meaningful to you.
Schnitzel with cold potato and onion salad. It always made my mother sentimental for Vienna, where she and my father grew up. Each time I came home from my many travels the first dish she prepared was this one. I didn’t feel I was home till I ate it. Now I enjoy it at the Neue Galerie in New York. As for the recipe, you’re asking the wrong guy.*
*Luckily, we were able to find a great recipe to share with you!