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I am delighted to welcome debut novelist Sarit Yishai-Levi! 

The Beauty Queen of Jerusalem is a dazzling novel of mothers and daughters, stories told and untold, and the ties that bind four generations of women.

Gabriela’s mother Luna is the most beautiful woman in all of Jerusalem, though her famed beauty and charm seem to be reserved for everyone but her daughter. Ever since Gabriela can remember, she and Luna have struggled to connect. But when tragedy strikes, Gabriela senses there’s more to her mother than painted nails and lips.

Desperate to understand their relationship, Gabriela pieces together the stories of her family’s previous generations―from Great-Grandmother Mercada the renowned healer, to Grandma Rosa who cleaned houses for the English, to Luna who had the nicest legs in Jerusalem. But as she uncovers shocking secrets, forbidden romances, and the family curse that links the women together, Gabriela must face a past and present far more complex than she ever imagined.

Set against the Golden Age of Hollywood, the dark days of World War II, and the swinging ’70s, The Beauty Queen of Jerusalem follows generations of unforgettable women as they forge their own paths through times of dramatic change. With great humor and heart, Sarit Yishai-Levi has given us a powerful story of love and forgiveness―and the unexpected and enchanting places we find each.

A Conversation with Sarit Yishai-Levi, author of  The Beauty Queen of Jerusalem

What is your inspiration behind The Beauty Queen of Jerusalem? How did you come up with the novel’s title?

This may sound strange, but the inspiration for The Beauty Queen of Jerusalem came from within me. I did not set out to write an epic novel, but having started, it felt like someone was sitting at my shoulder, whispering in my ear and leading me through the story, through its twists and turns. That experience had been my life for the 6.5 years it took me to write this book.

I don’t remember exactly when I picked the title The Beauty Queen of Jerusalem, but when the character Rosa mockingly calls her daughter Luna “the beauty queen of Jerusalem,” I knew instantly that this should be the book’s title. My Israeli editor wasn’t very happy with the title, but I insisted.

You’re a well-known Israeli journalist. How is writing a novel different from the work you do on a day-to-day basis? 

There is a world of difference between writing a column or other journalistic story and writing a novel. In journalism it is necessary to be matter-of-fact, even lean, and to narrow down the story handed to you by the subject. The person who is interviewed is the center, and the journalist is merely a vessel to channel their message to readers. The words are theirs, as well as the drama and the story. When writing a novel you have all the time in the world to tell your story. It is you who put words in the characters’ mouths and thus create the drama, the highs and the lows. You build a whole world, and it is a very exciting and rewarding experience.

How has the success of the novel changed your life, personally and professionally? What is it like to have your novel published in multiple languages and countries?

The publication of the book changed my life completely. Its phenomenal success in Israel made me instantly famous. I did many interviews, TV spots, and talks. Before the book came out I was Sarit Yishai-Levi, the journalist. Now, I am author and journalist, and for me it is an absolute dream come true.

The moment I held the Italian edition of the book (Italy is where the novel was first published outside of Israel) was very emotional. The fact that people in another country had read my story moved me to tears. When I went to Italy for the book launch, I visited the famous Rizzoli bookstore in Galleria Vittorio Emanuele in Milan. Seeing my book featured on the main table there was overwhelming. Since then the book has been translated to other languages, and I am very excited each time I hold a new edition of it. I am especially looking forward to the book’s upcoming release in English. I truly hope it will move American readers as it did Israeli readers.

Who are your favorite novelists? Were there any writers or books that inspired you?

My favorite authors are Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ayn Rand, Paul Auster, Paullina Simons, Victoria Hislop, Maria Duenas, and the Israeli authors Amos Oz, Meir Shalev, David Grossman, and Zeruya Shalev. Books that have inspired me: A Pigeon and A Boy by Meir Shalev, The Island by Maria Hislop, and The Time In Between by Maria Duenas. My all-time favorite novels are Hemingway’s For Whom the Bell Tolls and Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby.

What do you hope readers take away from the novel?

One should be able to forgive others before one is able to forgive oneself. In order to love another, one should love oneself. Love conquers all. In addition, I hope readers will embrace the story of the Ladino-speaking community that has resided in Israel for generations as the story of Israel and an important part of its culture and history.

What’s up next for you?

I am now finishing a new book, scheduled for release in early 2017 in Hebrew by Modan Publishing House. Filming for the movie adaptation of The Beauty Queen of Jerusalem is scheduled to begin at the end of 2016 in Israel.

Praise for THE BEAUTY QUEEN OF JERUSALEM  

About the Author

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Questions and Thoughts for Loud, Smart Women in Turbulent Times

Gina Barreca is fed up with women who lean in, but don’t open their mouths. In her latest collection of essays, she turns her attention to subjects like bondage, which she notes now seems to come in fifty shades of grey and has been renamed Spanx. She muses on those lessons learned in Kindergarten that every woman must unlearn like not having to hold the hand of the person you’re waking next to (especially if he’s a bad boyfriend) or needing to have milk, cookies and a nap every day at 3:00 PM (which tends to sap one’s energy not to mention what it does to one’s waistline). She sounds off about all those things a woman hates to hear from a man like “Calm down” or “Next time, try buying shoes that fit”.

“‘If You Lean In, Will Men Just Look Down Your Blouse?'” is about getting loud, getting love, getting ahead and getting the first draw (or the last shot). Here are tips, lessons and bold confessions about bad boyfriends at any age, about friends we love and ones we can’t stand anymore, about waist size and wasted time, about panic, placebos, placentas and certain kinds of not-so adorable paternalism attached to certain kinds of politicians. The world is kept lively by loud women talking and “‘If You Lean In, Will Men Just Look Down Your Blouse?'” cheers and challenges those voices to come together and speak up. You think she’s kidding? Oh, boy, do you have another thing coming.

From the Author:

Why will men, including ones who don’t cook any other meal, cheerfully make breakfast?

Is it because if they make toast without burning it, it becomes “amazingly good toast”? Is it because when they add a “magic ingredient” (taco-sauce) to their eggs, they can then call them “my mean scrambled eggs” or refer to themselves in the third person as “The Omelet Master”?

You know that if a guy can explain — without looking at note from an electronic device — what it means to coddle an egg, he firmly believes he should have his own show on the Food Network.

Yes, of course I’m making sweeping gender-specific generalizations, but somebody’s got to do it.

Besides, I really believe this one is true. Breakfast is The Man Meal.

My husband is one of the tribe: He makes scrambled eggs so good I believe they were a factor in my decision to marry to him.

What made me hesitate briefly in that decision, however, was my husband’s attempt to push his breakfast luck by going all out one morning and heating corned beef hash in a microwave. He plopped the grey mass straight from the can onto a plate, and then hit “reheat.”

He looked smugly pleased with himself until he took the plate out of the microwave. The mess on it looked, and smelled, like offal. Instead of running for the hills — we have low hills near us anyway so it wouldn’t have done much good — I saw it as a teachable moment. I cooked the food properly, pointing out that hash can only be enjoyed when the edges are fried just enough to be crunchy. That’s how my husband makes it now, because his “famous hash” is everybody’s favorite.

Many men have a technique that they regard as their signature. They consider this to be an exact science as well a huge accomplishment, the kind of which is usually accompanied by the sounding of French horns. This is true even if his signature dish is a bowl of cereal. I once knew a man who boasted that he made a “killer” bowl of cereal. He used soy milk and put pieces of banana on top. I suspect the banana is what made it “killer.”

The pattern of men cooking breakfast on the weekends and getting a great deal of praise for it no doubt grew out of the McCall’s-sponsored traditional ideology that suggested mothers and wives were responsible for making every other meal. Husbands were expected to return home after a long day’s work and wives were expected, in exchange, to be waiting at the door with a cold martini (not one they’ve been drinking for an hour, either) with a perfect meal in the oven and with cheerful children — already in their pajamas, ready to fall asleep at the drop of Daddy’s hat.

Only on the weekends would the paterfamilias be able to exercise a measure of culinary creativity. One night he grilled and one morning he made breakfast.

He probably also encouraged everyone to gather ‘round and watch him make breakfast; for men, being in the kitchen is a kind of performance art, says my friend Kim-Marie, requiring an audience for the full effect.

Another pal, Daniela says her husband “stands at the stove the entire time, watching the food cook with his arms crossed over his chest till it’s time to flip something over or move it around while browning. That’s it, the entire time, he’s standing there with the timer going instead of multitasking while the food cooks by, let’s say, setting the table or making coffee.”

However it’s done, breakfast is worth doing.

Like love, breakfast is something people skip because they consider it more trouble than it’s worth. Some folks think breakfast, like love, will keep them in the house longer than they’d like and will turn them into sleepy and fat instead of somebody alert and lean. But that’s not how it works. Both are fundamental: Breakfast and love will nourish you even when you’re busy doing other things; when they’re healthy, they’ll make every day better.

And like love, breakfast is best when made at home.

Or at a really good diner.

To win your own copy, please send an email to contest@gmail.com with “WIN IF YOU LEAN IN” as the subject.

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All entries must be received by April 15, 2016. Two (2) names will be drawn from all qualified entries and notified via email. This contest is open to all adults over 18 years of age in the United States or Canada. Your book will be sent by the publicist.

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