Renee Palmer

It Began in Transylvania Renee Palmer

This memoir is a series of entertaining vignettes. It traces events from my life growing up as a child of Holocaust survivors in bucolic Transylvania, the changes after the ensuing Communist regime up to the escape to the free word and life thereafter. Though it does start with an expose of my parents' provenance and some of their horrific experiences in the concentration camps, it covers about 65 years of quirky adventures in Romania, Austria, France, Israel and the US and includes travel disasters such as plane crashes, behind the scenes events in the fashion industry at a number of renowned fashion design companies, celebrity encounters, and a variety of simply comical incidents. It ends with a shocking discovery, a 65-year old family secret that came to light mainly due to serendipity during a trip back to my hometown in Romania in 2013.