Writers Miranda Gold and Angela Findlay talk about their latest works and the common themes of wartime traumas being passed down the generations.

Gold’s new novel, A Small Dark Quiet, is a powerful exploration of hereditary trauma. Sylvie is consumed by grief for the stillborn twin she was never able to hold. She struggles to rebuild her life as the end of World War Two approaches. Two years later, she and her husband Gerald adopt an orphan born in a concentration camp and give him the name of the stillborn twin. The child, Arthur, becomes entangled in the grief and, years later, as he becomes curious about his Jewish heritage, he finds it impossible to find his place and purpose. Gold’s first novel was Starlings and she is also author of a play, Lucky Deck. An extract from A Small Dark Quiet was published in The Best Peace Fiction Anthology.

Findlay’s In My Grandfather’s Shadow: A Story of War, Trauma and the Legacy of Silence is the story of her quest for the truth about her German family. Her grandfather was a decorated general who served on the Eastern Front during World War II. Findlay looks at the heritability of unresolved experiences and examines the history of the war’s losers, the post-war culture of apology and atonement and the legacy of shame. She says it is possible for the scars of trauma to be handed down the generations but also to be healed. Findlay is an Anglo-German artist. She has lectured and written on post-war remembrance, resolution and reconciliation.

This event is part of the festival’s programme of Jewish and Hebrew culture.

Sponsored by Jewish Book Week and generously supported by Professor Lucian Hudson and Jewish trusts and private donors.