Historical Novel LIV’S SECRETS Draws Reader into Early Jewish Anti-Apartheid Activism in South Africa

Bestselling Author Creates Intense Story of Multi-generational Love and the Fight of an Immigrant Family to Live by their Values

ESTES PARK, COLORADO, UNITED STATES, April 17, 2023/EINPresswire.com/ -- Today’s release of Janet Levine’s LIV’S SECRETS deepens Armin Lear Press’ commitment to readers seeking an authentic and dramatic take on key historical events. Levine, author of the very popular memoir INSIDE APARTHEID, transports readers to a South Africa where a family of immigrants puts their resources—and hearts—on the line to end apartheid.

LIV’S SECRETS is a passionately envisaged saga of one fictional South African Jewish family, the Weisz family, immigrants from Eastern Europe. One among a great wave of Jewish immigrants in the latter part of the 19th century, washing up mainly in America, but a wavelet of Lithuanian Jews on South Africa’s shores.

Alongside the Weisz family, other characters inhabit the novel where historical figures interact with the fictional cast amid the background of South Africa’s racial turmoil and apartheid’s authoritarian iron fist. Not least of the characters is South Africa itself. Landscape of astonishing beauty and nature’s abundant flora and fauna.

Decades pass, generations of Weisz family members play out the fully fledged saga—romance, first loves, lust, betrayal, true love, despair and elation, cruelty and evil, hope and fulfilment. In the background the chilling reality of World Wars and escalating racial tensions within South Africa that culminate in the bloody Sharpeville Massacre, March 1960, and its aftermath.

From 1960, the saga pivots on the third generation, embodied by Liv Weisz. Five years earlier, a recent divorcee, passionate and headstrong, she heeds the call to become part of the resistance to the authoritarian White apartheid government. And pays an unimaginable price with resounding consequences for many characters, as the country itself undergoes seismic, racially evoked challenges.

Reviews are outstanding and the book has already been nominated for multiple awards:

"Little fiction exists about Jewish experiences in South Africa. In Liv's Secrets, Janet Levine explores life under a repressive White South African government--a story rich in historical detail and cemented by family and characters that face difficult decisions on how to live their lives and reflect their values and ideals."
--Diane Donovan, Midwest Book Review

A five-star review from OnlineBookClub represents a broad range of readers:

“Janet Levine's Liv's Secrets is a captivating and well-written novel that tells the story of a South African Jewish family through the eyes of its matriarch, Liv. The book takes the reader on a journey through time, exploring the secrets and mysteries of Liv's ancestors, while also delving into Liv's personal life and relationships."

About the Author

Janet Levine was born in Johannesburg, South Africa and has lived in the US since 1984. Her first work Inside Apartheid (Contemporary Books, 1988) earned national attention in the US from The New York Times, The New York Review of Books, NPR’s Fresh Air, all major TV networks at the time, and many other major national media outlets.

Levine is an author, educator, and non-profit entrepreneur. In addition to Liv’s Secrets, Reading Matters and Inside Apartheid, she is the author of two other acclaimed works of non-fiction: Know Your Parenting Personality (Wiley 2004) and The Enneagram Intelligences (Greenwood Publishing Group 1999) nominated for the 2002 Grawemeyer Education Award. Her books are translated into several languages.

Levine has published prolifically in magazines and professional journals as a writer in her native South Africa and the United States. She is a book reviewer for the online New York Journal of Books. Her work has appeared in The New York Times Sunday Magazine, The Sowetan (in South Africa, the only white journalist to have a column in a black newspaper, 1978-1981), Boston Globe, and many online journals and magazines.

About Armin Lear Press

Armin Lear was founded with the purpose of publishing books connecting people with ideas that make our lives richer, more fulfilling, and happier. Its founders have 30 years of publishing experience. The company headquarters is near Boulder, CO with a production office in Arlington, VA and a design team near Boston, MA. Armin Lear is a member of the Independent Book Publishers Association and distributes its books worldwide in English through Ingram.

TITLE Liv’s Secrets
AUTHOR Janet Levine
ISBN 9781956450507 (PB)
9781956450514 (eBook)
PRICE $24.95; $9.99
PUB DATE April 17, 2023

Judith A Bailey
Armin Lear Press
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