Suzette lagnado biography
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The Man in the White Sharkskin Suit:A Jewish Family's Exodus from Old Cairo to the New World
Lucette Lagnado,
HarperCollins
pp.
ISBN
Summary
In vivid and graceful prose, Lucette Lagando recreates the majesty and cosmopolitan glamour of Cairo in the years between WWII and Nasser's rise to power.
Her father, Leon, was a boulevardier who bore a striking resemblance to Carry Grant and conducted his business in the elaborate lobby of the Nile Hilton, dressed in his signature vit sharkskin suit. Lagnado brings to life the color and culture of Cairo's sidewalk cafes and nightclubs, the markets and the quiet Jewish homes of the ancient city.
But with Nasser's nationalization of Egyptian industry, Leon and his family lose everything. As streets are renamed and neighborhoods of their fellow Jews are disbanded, they, too, must make their escape. Packed into 26 suitcases, their jewels hidden in sealed tins of anchovies, Leon and his family depart for any land that will take them.
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The Arrogant Years: One Girl's Search for Her Lost Youth, from Cairo to Brooklyn
The book begins, drawing the author, Lucette (Lulu) Lagnado, at a young age. She is sitting in a Brooklyn synagogue, fuming about the injustice of women and children being separated by a barrier from the men. She has a plan, a plan of rebellion. Look at the title--right from the start this little girl had mighty plans to fix the world. She would follow in the footsteps of her hero, the fictional spy Emma Peel, starring in the British s adventure television series. To battle the wrongs of the world a bit of arrogance is necessary. Not just Lulu, but also
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Obituary: Lucette Lagnado
The award-winning journalist Lucette Lagnado, who has died aged 56, was the co-author of Children of the Flames: Dr Josef Mengele and the untold Story of the Twins from Auschwitz, on human experiments in the death camps.
She later won the Sami Rohr Prize for Jewish Literature in for The Man in The White Sharkskin Suit: A Jewish Family’s Exodus from Old Cairo to the New World. It depicted the multicultural society in Egypt between the two world wars.
The youngest of five children born in Cairo to Leon Lagnado and Edith Matalon, Lucette was seven when her family was expelled from Egypt, moving first to Paris and finally Brooklyn.
She was struck by Hodgkin’s Lymphoma as a teenager but recovered to study French literature at Vassar College and entered journalism, eventually becoming an executive editor at Forward. She joined The Wall Street Journal in and brought her experiences to investigative reporting on hospitals, healthcare, and related issues