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Amy Neff Book Group Event
September 30, 2025
Last night, Sharon Kurtzman joined our book group discussion about THE LOST BAKER OF VIENNA via Zoom. She explained how a conversation with her mother about her mother's life after World War II in Vienna sparked her interest in writing this book. It was a story that she nurtured for a few decades before she wrote it.
Sharon walked us through her “on the ground” research where she visualized the story unfolding, as well as the long journey that it took to write the book. While the story had been percolating inside her, it took the COVID-19 pandemic to make her realize that she had to tell her mom’s story lest it be lost. While the book is not biographical, she talked about all of the ways her mother’s experiences guided her storytelling. (Note the family photos behind her, which she spoke about.)
—Sarah Jessica Parker, SJP Lit
—Michael Cunningham, Pulitzer Prize–winning author of DAY and THE HOURS
—Melissa Febos, author of THE DRY SEASON and GIRLHOOD, winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award
—People
—Booklist
