| THE JEWISH TRIBUNE Written by Atara Beck Tuesday, 20 October 2009 In a Pale Blue Light By Lily Poritz Miller Sumach Press Softcover, $24.95 TORONTO - The local first-time author of a stunning new novel based in 20th-century South Africa is one of several literary figures scheduled to appear at this year's annual Jewish Book Fair. Lily Poritz Miller, author of In a Pale Blue Light, will discuss her oeuvre on Oct. 26, 2 p.m., at the Lipa Green Centre. A book launch was held last week at Indigo Books at Yonge and Eglinton, where the author spoke about her journey to becoming a writer. Writing the book was a "unique experience" for Poritz Miller, who began a long editorial career in book publishing in New York and moved to Toronto 18 years ago, where she became senior editor at McClelland and Stewart and worked with distinguished writers, including Leonard Cohen, Michael Ondaatje and Farley Mowat. "I used to be invisible," she said. As an editor, "you have to merge into the world of the writer in every way." When Poritz Miller began writing her novel, "what perhaps had been in my subconscious totally consumed me," she said. Although not an autobiography, the book's protagonist bears many similarities, both in circumstance and in spirit, to the author, who was born in South Africa to Lithuanian Jewish immigrants, lost her father at a young age and moved to America with her family at 15. Her mother would regularly run to the post office and check for news of family survivors of the Holocaust on lists at the Red Cross and the Jewish Agency, and she always returned home disappointed. Eventually Poritz Miller's family learned that in 1941, "in a single day, my mother's entire family was wiped out." "I was born into a very troubled world," she told the audience. In South Africa, "everything seemed questionable and wrong. Why was the beloved black man who scrubbed the floors treated in such an inhumane way? Though I was never political and had no means of comparison, in my heart I felt very uncomfortable." The novel also highlights the profound antisemitism that was prevalent in white South African society, which had made Poritz Miller feel "insecure, imperfect. It certainly did leave a deep scar." In a Pale Blue Light is a beautiful and deeply touching work of fiction that is bound to have a profound impact on the reader. |