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  • Kiss the Red Stairs

  • The Holocaust, Once Removed: A Memoir
  • Written by: Marsha Lederman
  • Narrated by: Marsha Lederman
  • Length: 14 hrs and 22 mins
  • 4.9 out of 5 stars (10 ratings)

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Kiss the Red Stairs

Written by: Marsha Lederman
Narrated by: Marsha Lederman
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Publisher's Summary

WINNER of the Cindy Roadburg Memorial Prize—Western Canada Jewish Book Awards

NATIONAL BESTSELLER

For readers and listeners of
All Things Consoled by Elizabeth Hay and They Left Us Everything by Plum Johnson, Kiss the Red Stairs is a compelling memoir by award-winning journalist Marsha Lederman delves into her parents’ Holocaust stories in the wake of her own divorce, investigating how trauma migrates through generations with empathy, humour, and resilience.

Marsha was five when a simple question led to a horrifying answer. Sitting in her kitchen, she asked her mother why she didn’t have any grandparents. Her mother told her the truth: the Holocaust.

Decades later, her parents dead and herself a mother to a young son, Marsha begins to wonder how much history has shaped her own life. Reeling in the wake of a divorce, she craves her parents’ help. But in their absence, she is gripped by a need to understand the trauma they suffered, and she begins her own journey into the past to tell her family’s stories of loss and resilience.

Kiss the Red Stairs is a compelling memoir of Holocaust survival, intergenerational trauma, divorce, and discovery that will guide listeners through several lifetimes of monumental change.

©2022 Marsha Lederman (P)2022 McClelland & Stewart
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What listeners say about Kiss the Red Stairs

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An emotional and intense journey through darkness into the light. Highly recommend.

Do we carry our parents suffering? What insights can the answer tell us about our own pain? As someone who has asked these questions I learned so much from this incredibly powerful memoir by Marsha Lederman. She weaves intimate family stories past and present with impeccable journalistic research (Lederman is an award winning journalist) to illuminate ultimate truths and healing.

Kiss the Red Stairs is so beautifully read by the author herself, adding a tender poignancy and connection for the listener.

I’ve read several harrowing yet ultimately inspirational stories of survival and healing by authors who were subjected to the horrors of the death camps - and the unimaginable inhumanity that became common place. Kiss the Red Stairs is an important addition to these readings for me - bringing the impact of on present day lives of children of survivors to to bear on historical truths exposed about the Holocaust.

A thread woven through Lederman’s compelling narrative is her lifelong passion for advancing truth and social justice as a journalist. It’s apparent that this drive is fueled by the painful legacy of her family history, and this book is a stunning monument along her life’s journey to expose the darkest corners of humanity to the light.

May we all aspire to honor our own scars and heal ourselves and others by harnessing our deepest pain, our anger and our outrage, to lift up what is right.

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Insightful as to inter-generational trauma

Well told story of the courageous lives of Jewish parents who survived the holocaust by cleverness and tenacity. I learned a lot as I sat on the shoulder of the author as she sought to understand inter-generational trauma, and to overcome its impacts on her life. Highly recommended.

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Very Personal Yet So Relatable

The author’s family history is quite incredible and often tragic. It can’t have been easy to share all of this, but it feels so important to listen to - Jewish or not. I wouldn’t normally choose such a serious book, but it was recommended to me by a friend and I’m so glad it was. If you are open minded and care about historically significant and impactful stories, along with a very interesting thesis about intergenerational trauma, this book will not disappoint. I don’t want to say I enjoyed this, as it is the wrong word, but I was encapsulated and invested in everything read to me. Thank you Marsha for sharing these stories.

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Wonderful Book!

What a heart wrenching story but also important and touching and compelling…… I highly recommend it.

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