In Two Sisters, Rosie Whitehouse recounts the harrowing journey of her mother-in-law, Marion, and aunt, Huguette, who fled Nazi-occupied France after their mother was deported to Auschwitz. Seeking refuge, the sisters found themselves in Val d’Isère, where a courageous stranger, Dr. Frédéric Pétri, saved their lives. Whitehouse meticulously pieces together her family’s tragic history while probing ethical questions about courage and complicity during the Holocaust. Through vivid storytelling, she highlights the risks taken by individuals like Dr. Pétri to protect Jewish lives amid the horrors of Vichy France and her contemporary quest to recognize Dr. Pétri as a Righteous Among Nations.
Whitehouse will be in conversation with Diane Cole.
Rosie Whitehouse is a journalist specializing in Jewish life after the Holocaust. She writes for BBC Online, the Observer, The Independent, Tablet magazine, the Jewish Chronicle, Haaretz, and others. A graduate of the London School of Economics, she is a historical advisor at the Vienna-based Centropa, a Jewish history institute. Her first book, The People on the Beach: Journeys to Freedom after the Holocaust, was published in 2020. She lives in London.
Diane Cole is a widely published author and journalist. Her work has appeared in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, National Geographic, The Washington Post, NPR online, The Forward, The American Scholar, US News and World Report (where she was a contributing editor), among others. Her memoir, After Great Pain: A New Life Emerges, was included as a New York Times notable book of the year and named by USA Today as one of the ten best non-fiction books of the year.