Join us at The Gallery for an author luncheon and discussion with Anne Berest

THE POSTCARD

Europa Editions $28.00 May 23, 2023

Friday, October 13, 2023 11:30am - 1:30pm

202 E Wisconsin Avenue

Lake Forest, IL 60045

Books available for purchase and signing.

$85 includes lunch and a book.

Space is limited, please RSVP at 847-234-4420

Winner of the Choix Goncourt Prize, Anne Berest’s The Postcard is a vivid portrait of twentieth-century Parisian intellectual and artistic life, an enthralling investigation into family secrets, and poignant tale of a Jewish family devastated by the Holocaust and partly restored through the power of storytelling.

January, 2003. Together with the usual holiday cards, an anonymous postcard is delivered to the Berest family home. On the front, a photo of the Opéra Garnier in Paris. On the back, the names of Anne Berest’s maternal great-grandparents, Ephraïm and Emma, and their children, Noémie and Jacques—all killed at Auschwitz.

Fifteen years after the postcard is delivered, Anne, the heroine of this novel, is moved to discover who sent it and why. Aided by her chain-smoking mother, family members, friends, associates, a private detective, a graphologist, and many others, she embarks on a journey to discover the fate of the Rabinovitch family: their flight from Russia following the revolution, their journey to Latvia, Palestine, and Paris. What emerges is a moving saga that shatters long-held certainties about Anne’s family, her country, and herself.

Anne Berest is the bestselling co-author of How to Be Parisian Wherever You Are (Doubleday, 2014) and the author of a novel based on the life of French writer Françoise Sagan. With her sister Claire, she is also the author of Gabriële, a critically acclaimed biography of her great-grandmother, Gabriële Buffet-Picabia, Marcel Duchamp’s lover and muse. She is the great-granddaughter of the painter Francis Picabia. For her work as a writer and prize-winning showrunner, she has been profiled in publications such as French Vogue and Haaretz newspaper. The recipient of numerous literary awards, The Postcard was a finalist for the Goncourt Prize and has been a long-selling bestseller in France.

We welcome Milwaukee-area Producer/Director/Writer Gael Garbarino Cullen as she presents her debut book.

IUniverse Publishing  $13.00  August 22, 2022 (Paperback)

Books available for purchase and signing

Refreshments will be served

RSVP at 847-234-4420

Praise for Owning Grief In raw, compelling honesty, Gael Garbarino Cullen articulates the complexities of grief and single motherhood, beautifully illustrating the power of resilience. Natalie Kathryn Sanchez, Author, The Language of Loss An unflinching walk through the long and inevitably difficult stages of grief - confirming and validating the curves and turns that come with healing. Steve Radowski, grieving parent Straight-forward and captivating. I have worked with many who would benefit by learning how the author owned her grief after the sudden death of her husband, and then directed that grief into strength to meet the challenges of single parenthood. Judy Higgs, MA Counseling Psychology, Co-coordinator of Parish Widows Ministry.

Born and raised in Detroit, Gael still harbors a fondness for Motown music and Tiger baseball but three-plus decades of living in her “adopted” hometown of Milwaukee leave no doubt where her loyalties lie.  She loves telling stories about and for Wisconsin businesses, people and organizations.  And her background in news and PBS documentary production give her a special flair for getting to the heart of a story.  Gael welcomes the challenge of tackling a complicated subject matter and making it user-friendly, often in the healthcare or environmental areas, but give her a non-profit organization with a great cause to promote, and she truly shines.  It’s no surprise, then, that one particular “spare time” passion is the Steve Cullen Healthy Heart Run/Walk, raising money for heart research here in southeast Wisconsin. She is a debut author of Owning Grief: Widowed Young, How I Discovered Gifts in Loss.