Gaelle Lehrer Kennedy worked as an actress and writer in film and television in the United States and Israel. Night in Jerusalem is her debut novel, which she has adapted to film. She lives in Ojai California with her husband and daughter.
She writes, “I lived in Israel in the 1960s, a naive twenty-year-old, hoping to find myself and my place in the world. The possibility of war was remote to me. I imagined the tensions in the region would somehow be resolved peacefully. Then, the Six Day War erupted and I experienced it firsthand in Jerusalem.
I have drawn Night in Jerusalem from my experiences during that time. The historical events portrayed in the novel are accurate. The characters are based on people I knew in the city. Like me, they were struggling to make sense of their lives, responding to inherited challenges they could not escape that shaped their destiny in ways they and the entire Middle East could not have imagined.
I have always been intrigued by the miraculous. How and where the soul’s journey leads and how it reveals its destiny. How two people who are destined, even under the threat of war and extinction, can find one another.
Israel’s Six Day War is not a fiction; neither was the miracle of its victory. What better time to discover love through intrigue, passion, and the miraculous.
Writing this story was in part reliving my history in Israel, in part a mystical adventure. I am grateful that so many who have read Night In Jerusalem have experienced this as well.”
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Would you call yourself a born writer?
Yes, but I didn’t know it until my twenties. Before then, I was always intrigued by people – their stories, mannerisms, and how they behaved. I’ve always read a lot. I love stories that are told simply, where the writer is unobtrusive and the characters and plot say it all. It is hard to write stories that are so clear and transparent you can see right into the souls of the characters. That’s what works for me. I studied creative writing at Columbia and came to appreciate the astonishing virtuosity of our writers. I was in awe of their literary talent. But a pivotal shift for me came when I 
realized I am not at all interested in writing for its own sake, no matter how well-crafted it is. The writing I love is where the writer becomes invisible. I found it hugely liberating to disappear into my characters and their world. I have never looked back.
What was your inspiration for Night In Jerusalem?
The love story in Night In Jerusalem came to me on a movie set. We were filming on a blazingly hot day, dressed as lightly as possible. A young Hasidic woman in long black clothes and a wig kept coming out to look at us from her balcony. We spent most of the afternoon filming there, and she kept reappearing. I realized she was attracted to one of the crew members who had unbuttoned the top of his shirt, exposing his handsome chest. I sensed how strongly she yearned for contact. The gap between us could have been crossed in a few paces, yet we were centuries apart. I imagined what it would be like to be her, what courage it would take for her to break free, how she might do it. Decades later, I wrote her story in Night In Jerusalem.
I set the book in Israel at the time of the Six Day War, which I experienced firsthand. I remember vividly huddling in shelters with other women, listening to Arab radio news reports proclaiming victory while we contemplated how we would end it for ourselves. It turned out, of course, that the war went the other way. We were to live! Winston Churchill wrote that there is nothing as exhilarating as when someone shoots at you and misses. Emerging from that shelter was exhilarating. It also brought up questions that have been with me ever since – why does it take such courage to truly love, how impossible it seems to bring peace to the world, and, of course, why “God works in mysterious ways.” There are endless ways to work with these themes, it’s just a matter of grounding them in a time and place, with characters you love and admire. The characters in Night In Jerusalem, and their responses to the challenges they encounter, express different points of view that I share, even as they conflict with each other.
What themes do you like to explore in your writing?
I have always been intrigued by the miraculous: how and where the soul’s journey leads and how it reveals its destiny; how two people who are destined to love, even under the threat of war and extinction, can find one another. Night In Jerusalem is a love story set during Israel’s Six Day War in which passion, mystical encounters and the miraculous come together to change the lives of everyone caught up in it.
How long did it take you to complete the novel?
The story percolated for decades, but the actual writing took two years – six months for the first draft, then the re-writing.
Are you disciplined? Describe a typical writing day.
I write every day. I especially enjoy writing before sunrise. In India, they call the two hours before dawn the “ambrosial hours” when the world is most open to spiritual connection. I understand why! In the afternoon, I usually do rewrites and edits.
What did you find most challenging about writing this book?
There are endless ways to work with these themes. It’s a challenge to ground them in a time and place with characters you love. As you get to know the characters, though, they tell you more about themselves. That’s when the story reveals itself, often in surprising ways.
What do you love most about being an author?
I can’t wait to meet my characters every day. Previously, I have written screenplays. They are, of course, visually-oriented and they provide limited opportunity for the writer to describe the characters’ states of mind – everything has to be shown on the screen. I was drawn to writing a novel because the canvas is so much larger –as big as you like – and the story does not have to fit a budget. Also, the relationship with the reader is more intimate and complete.
Did you go with a traditional publisher, small press, or did you self publish? What was the process like and are you happy with your decision?
I decided to self-publish. I had an agent tell me she liked my writing, liked my story, but didn’t like my book. Go figure. But after working in Hollywood, I’ve not encountered much by way of new craziness in the publishing industry – and it’s wonderful that authors can now publish and promote their own books, without having to genuflect to “the industry” – not an option with movies. I found the notion I could publish my own work the way I wanted it, without “taking notes” in endless meetings, just fantastic!
In my previous work, I was not involved in the promotional side of things. I don’t know much about book promotion and there is a whole lot of work to do there. Fortunately, I have a partner who is well-versed in it, otherwise I would be lost. Also, going into this project, I had no idea how pivotal an editor is. After working for months, on and off, with the editor of Night In Jerusalem, I would never consider publishing a book without a strong and talented editor. So, for me, self-publishing does not mean going without professional support; it means you must take the initiative yourself to find the right professionals to partner with.
Where can we find you on the web?
http://www.nightinjerusalem.com
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