33Jewish Telegraph

Friday January 23, 2015

BY ZOE COHEN

FROM The Bronx to Britain,American fiction writer WendyBrandmark is captivating theliterary world with her latestnovel of an outsider trying todeal with life’s daily struggles.

The Stray American (HollandPark Press) follows rootlessAmerican Larry Greenberg as heattempts to find his identity andpurpose in life.

Escaping from his corporatelaw job in Boston, he sets out onhis journey to teach in anAmerican college near London’sWaterloo station.

But he must grow up and moveon or forever consider himself asan outsider.

Wendy said: “The idea firstevolved with a group of patrioticAmericans leading a group toshare discontent to demonstrateagainst war in Iraq.

“The main character, whichlater on was to be Larry, feltoutside of things in Britain, andthe rest of the ideas went on fromthere.”

The New York-raised writerdescribed The Stray American as a“comic novel with a dark side”.

She added: “The maincharacter is flawed, as well asengaging. He has troubleknowing himself.

“The main journey focuses onthat, but he still doesn’t find hisway by the end.

“Something that came outwithout trying is the suspense ofbeing haunted by something hemisses.

“He misses his father and isfeeling lost with the difficultiesfrom that and from feeling lost ina different culture and finding hisway in life.”

Wendy grew up in The Bronxwith a non-observant upbringing.

“But there was a Jewishidentity,” she said. “I observedfestivals, but had a mixedscepticism, together with a senseof belonging.”

Wendy moved to London in the1980s with British husband PeterRobinson.

“When I moved, I felt theJewish community had adifferent feeling to Americans,”she said.

“Since being here I have beenunder the Progressive/Reformwing in London.

“In the States, Progressive isthe largest wing belonging toReform, but here it looks like thecountry is more Orthodox.

“The community is more low-key and is fitting itself in.”

Also a poet and short storywriter, Wendy said she was an“avid reader growing up”.

She explained: “I always wrotestories and poetry in primaryschool.

“I would always have a book inmy hand from a young age, as Iam sure many writers did.

“When you are captivated fromreading stories, you feel like

writing your own. “I like making things up and

creating something by playingaround with it.”

She explained that her literaryinfluences can come fromanything . . . and everything.

“I have read everything fromtrashy to Jane Austin,” Wendytold me. “My inspiration cancome from anywhere. It is hard topinpoint a few writers.”

Her first novel The Angry Gods(2003) described a sense of notbelonging within a ConservativeJewish family, and her shortstories have been widelypublished in British andAmerican magazines, includingThe Massachusetts Review, TheIndependent and, more recently,The Times Literary Supplement.

Underneath the comedy, thereis a satire of making fun of bothBritish and American cultures,as well as Jewish culture.

She continued: “I hope bothsides of the Atlantic will enjoy it.

“In some ways people willunderstand it more in Britainbecause of the jokes.

“There is a Jewish element toit, as the main character isJewish and he stumbles acrossother Jews.

“Early on in the book, he ishaving trouble with women, wholove him and leave him.

“He thinks he needs a Jewishwoman, hoping maybe it willmake a difference.

“In once scene he is invited intothe woman’s house, but the wholedate goes against him.”

She added: “The Stray Americanis a comic novel, but has a darkside with serious intent.

“Although, compared to myother novels, it felt lighter, so itwas a nice relief from what I havedone before.”

Wendy is currently supervisingsecond year students in OxfordUniversity’s Master of Studies inCreative Writing.

� wendybrandmark.com

“I have to find ways to becreative and surround myself withgood people, but still find a way tobecome known.

“I know what my priorities are,but I don’t care about beingfamous.”

She added: “My advice to anyonetrying to make it in a particularindustry is to meet as many peopleas you can and find a career youlike.

“Be consistent in showing up ontime and be a human because younever know who is going to end upwhere.”

Come Thief, Come Fire isNatalia’s fifth studio album since2001. Previous albums were MortalChild, Only One, Brand NewFrame and Gas Station Roses. Shealso released a live album, Gypsies& Clowns, in 2013.

� http://nataliazukerman.com

to bow

MIEL de Botton spent nearly a decade inParis practising psychology. And now she ishoping to return to the French capital — butin a different guise.

For the Zurich-born 46-year-old haslaunched a music career and would love toperform in Paris, where she lived for sixyears.

It would be apt, too, as debut albumMagnetic — which will be released in March— features songs in French.

Half are self-penned and the other halfare Miel’s interpretation of French classicsfrom the 1940s and 1950s, recalled fromher childhood in Switzerland.

“The songs transported me to an era ofwild romance,” she told me. “I could feel theintensity of love, but also its tragicinconstancy, and I wanted to abandonmyself to that music.”

But it has taken Miel a long time to fulfilher dreams.

Raised in St Gallen, she is the daughterof Jacqueline (née Burgauer) and Gilbert deBotton.

Her father was born in Alexandria, Egypt,but was among the many Jews who leftafter experiencing life under dictator GamalAbdel Nasser.

Gilbert went to live and work inSwitzerland, where he co-founded aninvestment firm.

Miel’s Swiss-born mother was Ashkenazi,while her father was from a Sephardi family.

She recalled: “It was always my dream tosing professionally. My father was musicaland he would always ask me to sing MaNishtana at Pesach.

“I didn’t think it would come up as apossible profession in the world I inhibited.”

Dutifully, in her father’s vision, she readat Oxford and went on to qualify as a clinicalpsychologist at the Ecole de PsychologuesPracticiens.

Miel had arrived in England as a boarder

at Rodean School, East Sussex, and then onto Marlborough College, Wiltshire.

Miel, whose brother is writer andphilosopher Alain de Botton, will take to thestage on Tuesday at the Purcell Room,London, with band members Sam Swallow(piano), Roman Roth (drums), Mark Jaimes(guitar) and Gareth Davies (bass).

And she still battles the nerves beforeconcerts, too.

“I do meditation and breathing exercisesto help,” Miel revealed.

She met and married banker AngusAynsley in Paris, but moved to London afteralmost a decade in France for his work.

Miel’s father died soon after and, with aone-year old son and much of her father’sestate issues to look after, she took a break.

Then, four years ago — and another childlater — her marriage fell apart.

She explained: “It was at a time in my lifewhen I felt more free. I was always singingand dancing around my home and had apiano teacher, who suggested we singtogether. She had a band and we did gigstogether.”

It led to Miel being introduced to record

producer Andy Wright, who has workedwith such names as Mick Hucknall, TheEurythmics and Jeff Beck.

Miel said of Andy, who has produced herdebut album: “He really gets me. We havethese amazing moments when I give himmy songs and he sits at the piano andstarts the chord arrangements.

“I cry every time, because what comesout is magical.”

Miel, who also speaks German and a“little Italian”, said she had a secularupbringing, but visited Israel regularly andcelebrated the High Holy Days.

“I go to shul now when I can and take thechildren,” she added. “We do the festivals,as well — my cultural and religious heritageis important to me.”

A committee member of the BritishFriends of the Art Museums of Israel,charitable efforts regarding the JewishState are something close to her heart.

She performed at The WeizmannInstitute of Science’s gala dinner and sangalongside the YMCA Jerusalem YouthChorus at London’s Aldwych Theatre lastmonth.

Miel added: “I was in Jerusalem andasked my friend whether there was a joint-Israeli Palestinian choir.

“He said there was and I was taken tomeet them. The risk with many Israeli andPalestinian youngsters is they grow upindoctrinated and have barriers raisedagainst each other. With the Chorus, theylearn to engage in dialogue — it issomething we really need right now.”

� http://mielmusic.co.uk/home-2

ERA OF WILD ROMANCE: Miel de Botton

Miel shares her Magneticpersonality with album

Brits will connectwith Wendy’s jokes

DARK SIDE: Wendy Brandmark

Zweig makes a comebackOSCAR-nominated film The Grand Budapest Hotel israising the profile of Austrian-Jewish novelist Stefan Zweig.

Director Wes Anderson said Zweig inspired the film’squirky eastern European setting and several of itscharacters.

A new book, The Impossible Exile: Stefan Zweig at theEnd of the World, recently won the Jewish Book Council’sNational Jewish Book Award for best Jewish biography.

Born in 1881, Zweig earned a doctorate in philosophy atthe University of Vienna in 1904. He became friends withTheodor Herzl, who published some of his earliest essays inViennese newspaper Neue Freie Presse.

Zweig — whose autobiography was called The World ofYesterday — also became close to Sigmund Freud and evengave a eulogy at Freud’s funeral in 1939.

In 1942, Zweig and his wife committed suicide byoverdosing on barbiturates.

New editions of his fiction, including his collected stories,are being published, with some appearing in English for thefirst time. Films are being adapted from his writing; a newselection of his letters is in the works; plans to reissue hismany biographies and essays are in motion; and hiscomplicated life has provided inspiration for newbiographies and a best-selling French novel.

The 2013 French film A Promise was based on novellaJourney Into the Past, and the Swiss film Mary Queen ofScots based on his novel Maria Stuart. Publishers such asthe Pushkin Press have released more than 20 of Zweig’sfictional works in recent years.

BY SIMON YAFFE

❝I cry everytime as it is magical