In the spirit of We Were the Lucky Ones and We Must Be Brave, a heartbreaking World War II novel of one mother’s impossible choice, and her search for her daughter against the odds.
We had the pleasure of chatting with author Alexis Landau about her novel Those Who Are Saved, book recommendations, writing, and more!
Hi, Alexis! Tell our readers a bit about yourself!
I grew up in L.A. and then studied at Vassar College and received an MFA from Emerson College, and a PhD in English Literature and Creative Writing from the University of Southern California. I also teach writing at USC. I love practicing ballet (since the age of seven), taking long hikes with my dog, and watching my kids surf.
Quick lightning round! Tell us the first book you ever remember reading, the one that made you want to become an author, and one that you can’t stop thinking about!
- First book remembering reading: D’Aulaires Book of Greek Myths
- One that made me want to become an author: Kafka on the Shore by Haruki Murakami
- One I can’t stop thinking about: The Immortality Key by Brian Muraresku
When did you first discover your love for writing?
I always loved to write since I was little, mostly in my diary, it just took me a long time to realize I might be able to do it professionally.
Your new novel, Those Who Are Saved, is out now! If you could only describe it in five words, what would they be?
Heart-rending, historical, sweeping, sensual and emotional.
Now tell us a little more! What can readers expect?
Here’s a short synopsis: Vera’s wealth cannot protect her four-year-old-daughter, Lucie, once the Nazis occupy France. Ordered to report to an internment camp, Russian Jewish Vera must make an impossible choice: bring Lucie with her, or put her into hiding? Believing the war will end soon, Vera chooses to leave Lucie in safety. She cannot know that she and her husband will have an opportunity to escape, to flee to America. She cannot know that Lucie will be too far to reach in time.
And so begins a heart-rending separation and journey, a war and a continent apart. Vera’s marriage will falter under the surreal sun of California. But her determination to return to France and find Lucie will only grow. Then she meets Sasha, a man on his own, in search of meaning. Together, they will travel to France in search of Lucie, discovering her fate.
What was the inspiration behind this novel?
I was inspired by the European exiles who fled to LA to escape fascism and start over, such as novelist Lion Feuchtwanger and his wife Marta, Thomas Mann, writer Salka Viertel, Bertolt Brecht, musicians Erich Korngold, Stravinsky, Schoenberg and Theodor Adorno, directors Otto Preminger, Fritz Lang, and so many others. These exiled artists formed a fragile community congregating and living in the very places where I grew up: Pacific Palisades, Brentwood, and Santa Monica. I used to hike up Paseo Miramar off of Sunset, passing such rich history without knowing that years later, I would write a novel with various scenes set at Villa Aurora, a beautiful Spanish revival home nestled in those same hills. Built in 1927 with the support of The Los Angeles Times, along with investors Arthur A. Weber and George Ley, it was a sample home designed to attract more people to settle in remote areas of Los Angeles. After passing through various hands, the Feuchtwangers purchased Villa Aurora in 1943 (for 9,000 dollars), and their home soon became the epicenter of exile culture in LA. As I wrote about them, I began to feel a kinship with these displaced artists who still clung to the Old World, while forced to adapt to a new one. Some of them loved LA and thrived here, while others despised it, no longer making art, stunted by the city’s abrasive beauty, a wasteland, they claimed, devoid of the vibrant artistic buzz of Berlin or Budapest, cities that would forever remain lost to them.
Is there a character or scene that you really enjoyed writing?
I loved writing the scenes from Lucie’s point of view because I had never written from that perspective before, and the simplicity combined with the intensity of her observations captured how children tend to have an intuitive understanding of what is happening around them that is often much more perceptive and emotionally true when compared to adults, who are much better at lying to themselves and others.
What challenges did you face while writing and how did you overcome them?
The most difficult obstacle was writing the relationship between Vera and Sasha because they come from such different emotional places, and from such different socioeconomic backgrounds and yet, he represents hope, the future, movement and energy, whereas she is bound to the past, paralyzed by guilt and fear. The challenge was to show how their contrasting energies balance each other out, similar to yin and yang, in that they would make each other whole while at the same time, individually undergo a psychological transformation and seek their own path forward.
What was the road to becoming a published author like for you?
My wonderful agent Alice Tasman was so patient as I worked on my first novel and when she received it she was so enthusiastic, her support has really helped me persevere through the ups and downs of publishing.
What’s next for you?
I am currently working on a novel that deals issues around motherhood including guilt, grief and rage. It is contemporary but ancient Greco-Roman religions are deeply woven into the setting and plot.
Lastly, are you currently reading anything and do you have any book recommendations for our readers?
Things I Don’t Want To Know by Deborah Levy, The Lying Life of Adults by Elena Ferrante and A Lie Someone Told You About Yourself by Peter Ho Davies, as well as, On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuong.
