Jennifer Kavanagh’s new book is a biography of three generations of Jewish women

Local author Jennifer Kavanagh’s latest book was released this month — a biography of three generations of Jewish women.

Thread of Life: My Russian Legacy is a deeply personal journey through Russia, Latvia, Switzerland, Egypt, and England.

Kavanagh — in this mix of biography, memoir, autobiography and personal reflection — tells the story of her grandmother and mother whose lives spanned from the end of the 19th century to the beginning of the 21st century, and their influence on her own life.

While her mother Genia lived to a grand old age, her grandmother Dora was murdered by the Nazis in 1941 in the killing fields outside Riga, Latvia, “in what has been called Holocaust by Bullets”.

Through historical research, family documents and interviews with her mother and other members of her family, Kavanagh pieces together Dora’s life in pre-Soviet Riga and St Petersburg, through the turmoil of the Russian Revolution, the destruction of the Second World War, to uncover the painful truth surrounding the circumstances of her grandmother’s death.

Thread of Life: My Russian Legacy, by Jennifer Kavanagh, is published by Liberalis Books. Jennifer Kavanagh will be talking about her book at Friends House, 173-177 Euston Road, London NW1 2BJ, at 6pm on 22 April 2025 (admission free, no need to book).