A Brilliant Life

SHORTLISTED FOR THE ABIA MATT RICHELL AWARD FOR NEW WRITER OF THE YEAR 2024

A mother and daughter.
Love. Loss. Wonder.
The story of a brilliant life.

Over seventy years had passed since Mira Unreich was freed from a concentration camp in Germany. On that spring day in 1945, she found herself alive, against all odds. In the decades that followed, she never explained the mystery underpinning her survival. How could Mira say that in the Holocaust 'I learned about the goodness of people'?

When Mira's journalist daughter Rachelle realised time was running out for Mira, who was ill with cancer, she resolved to ask her mother questions. It would be the most important interview of her life: a chance to discover the secrets to her mother's joy, and an opportunity to fit together the jigsaw puzzle pieces of her own life.
Rachelle discovered so much more than she ever expected. Mira's words would lead her along a surprising path, where she learned for the first time what a truly extraordinary life her mother had led.

A Brilliant Life weaves together the past and the present to capture the powerful connection between a mother and child. It reminds us of the resilience of the soul and the ability of the heart to heal. It is an unforgettable story about fate and chance, love and grief, and the deepest kind of faith.

'A delicate, evocative story of strength and survival that turns on one of the most powerful forces in the known universe: a mother's love' JONATHAN FREEDLAND, bestselling author of The Escape Artist

'Unreich has cleverly painted her mother's story in all its shades of glory and despair; a woman who stepped into the canvas of life and painted her own bright fulfilling future' HARPER'S BAZAAR AUSTRALIA

'Mira's courage and belief in people's goodness radiates throughout this unforgettable testimony' THE AUSTRALIAN WOMEN'S WEEKLY

'An affirmation of the miraculous nature of the human mind to make sense of humanity's worst inclinations, not just survive them' RACHEL GRIFFITHS

'A loving and tender book . . . Mira's story presents a key to the future of humanity' SYDNEY MORNING HERALD

'Astonishingly compelling . . . A breathtaking masterclass on how to retain empathy, faith and optimism in the face of such unfathomable hardship' BETTER READING