Forgotten in a hiding place from the Second World War, in Salonica, Greece, a sewing box full of letters and memories finds its way to Brazil, entrusted to Dora Openheim in 1970.Following the letters, beginning in 1865 with Anna Varsano, a dressmaker in Sicily, daughter of a humble and obscure Sephardic jeweller Rafaelle Cohen and ending with the harrowing story of a Holocaust survivor in 1973 in Salonica, Sealed Letters brings to life the private and secret story of the most important Jewish banker and philanthropist of his time: Baron Maurice de Hirsch. In 1882, Maurice de Hirsch is founding the Banque de Paris et Pays-Bas- today called Paribas. At the same time, he is finishing the construction of the first railroad that will link Constantinople to Paris, that one day would be called the Orient Express. Offering part of his fortune, Baron Hirsch attempts to save lives by negotiating with the Czar of Russia to send thousands of Jewish families persecuted in pogroms, to haven in North America, Argentina and Brazil. And in becoming the protector and financier of the personal expenses of the Prince of Wales, the future king of England Edward VII, the Baron conceals a secret that, if revealed, would shake the British Empire. At the age of seventeen Michaela Varsano is taken from Sicily to Bavaria as a ward of the aristocratic Baroness Clara de Hirsch. Meanwhile, her mother stays on in Taormina and her father, Dottore Alberto, a pharmacist, strives to start a new life in Salonica and Constantinople. Between studies and journeys, the beautiful untamed Sicilian transgresses social boundaries by falling in love with Lucien de Hirsch, the Baron's only son, in a way that will come to change History. Sealed Letters 1850-1917, a meticulously researched narrative, recreates an era and echoes across continents, bringing passion and love, swelling in the soul of every reader fortunate enough to read it.
About the Author: Dora Openheim- When Dora Openheim wrote in Portuguese- Cartas Lacradas 1850-1917 "Sealed Letters" 1850-1917 -the/ historical novel, that became a publishing success in six weeks in Brazil, no one asked the woman who previously had been known only as a painter and a brilliant fashion designer, the obvious question: When did she realize she could write a novel? Her answer first, was a smile. "This book is a coincidence in my life....." "For 35 years I had all those documents in privacy... all those wonderful personages inside a sewing box, all in those letters inside my closed...and to be sincere I wrote this book to myself...to clean my soul, after so many decades of obsession to read those letters and the diary of Anna Varsano, to understand her language, to be inside dusty archives in Europe to find more about them, to learn each day more... Hearing memories from people who had memories and traditions from their ancestors. Writing this book, was a marvelous experience, the best time of my life, when I have learned that: in one or other way I had a mission ... And this mission was a way to make justice, to thank God and pay promises " NYT-Literature and Art-Brazil Dora Openheim was born is São Paulo, mother and grandmother, she has a degree in Political Sciences and Law by the Mackenzie University, a Master in Arts By the Alvares Penteado Foundation, working as a fashion designer, she is a successful painter with her works in many public and private collections. Sealed Letters 1850-1917-is her debut in fiction- translated by Prof Clifford E. Landers Oct.2016 Oblivion 1914-1974- to be published in January 2017 Olives and Diamonds-to be published at the end of 2018