Elena: A Hand Made Life

Dr. Elena Zadik's extraordinary life is chronicled in this graphic novel, which depicts her as a refugee, doctor, and family builder in Sheffield. It explores the resilience of women and the transmission of trauma across generations.

Format: Hardback
Length: 200 pages
Publication date: 22 August 2024
Publisher: Vintage Publishing

A GUARDIAN GRAPHIC NOVEL OF THE YEAR - Lizzy Stewart, author of Alison Lives were bent in the furnaces of the twentieth century, but Elena Zadik was unbroken. With a stethoscope, a jar of herring, and a hearing aid occasionally switched on, she forged an extraordinary life. Elena ran through the twentieth century without looking back. A refugee twice before she was 17, she broke glass ceilings to become a doctor during World War 2. She was as brilliant a doctor as she was terrible a driver (she never took a test). Finding community, falling in love, and starting a family in Sheffield while her parents were imprisoned and killed in Auschwitz, she swam against the odds with courage and tenacity. Miriam gathers the threads of her Granny's story, reflecting on their unconventional relationship and how trauma travels down through the generations in this gorgeous brocade of illustration and collage. Granny was an unintentionally hilarious woman, often difficult, always opinionated, and deeply resourceful. Her hands were always busy and form the heart of this timely, irresistible graphic story of the ordinary extraordinary resilience of women. A heartfelt and charming graphic memoir of love, family, and fearless women.

Weight: 670g
Dimension: 223 x 159 x 22 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781787335226