The Last Blue Dress

Miriam David, a twelve-year-old girl from Marseille, discovers friendship, romance and tragedies, in the French free zone, in 1942. The tragic events of the war force Miriam and her friends, Rachel and Isaac Cohen, to painfully confront their identities as Jews. After a year of separation where Miriam converts to Catholicism and goes to Catholic school, the friends are reunited in Nice. Will they escape from the Nazi's persecutions and death? THE LAST BLUE DRESS is an account of the Holocaust period, in the south of France. This book is intended for middle-grade and young adult audiences This novel is fictionalized but based upon the true experiences of the author's aunt and her family and best friends. The story takes place in Marseille and Nice. It describes the life of French teenagers going to school and living in the heart of a big city, in war time. The author intended to enlighten and entertain by combining true historical events and fictionalized characters and scenes. The author, Haya Evelyne Berkowitz, is a graduate from "The Institute of Children Literature," West Redding, Connecticut, and from "The Writer Digest Fiction Workshop," Cincinnati, Ohio. She holds a Master's degree of history and of French, and a Doctorate of Education. Besides, she was Second Price winner of "The Manuscriptors Guild Writing Contest," 1994, for THE LAST BLUE DRESS (Historical Fiction for youth); and First prize winner of The Foundation for Aspiring Writers Writing Contest 1995, for PEPITO BE A MAN (youth), re-titled THE WINDS OF LA BARRANCA.