I just finished reading The Man in the White Sharkskin Suit by Lucette Lagnado.      Lagnado writes poignantly but is never overly sentimental- a difficult feat given her family’s heart-breaking decent from a once grand and privileged life in Cairo to near destitution, first in France, then America.  After enjoying a carefree and indulgent lifestyle in the glamorous Cairo that existed just after World War II, the family suddenly faces both personal tragedy and severe political unrest.  Forced to flee Egypt with thousands of other Jews following the fall from power of King Farouk, Leon Lagnado, now in his sixties, with wife Edith and their four children find themselves on a ship destined for NY.   Without money or any notion of what awaits them, they know it is not their already settled relatives, who have steadfastly turned down the Jewish Relief Agency’s requests to aid the family of six upon their arrival.  Disembarking, they are greeted solely by the bitter bite of their first real winter and a Manhattan that shows them little mercy.  Be forewarned; there is no happy ending in this memoir however there is beauty to be found in the intensely complex but deeply loving relationship between father and daughter.

Caveats:  Where oh where were her editors the umpteenth time the author mentions the 26 bags of luggage they carried?!   2) Search as I might, I could not find any resemblance to Cary Grant in the author’s photos of her father.  I dare say this is the only instance in which she viewed the past through rose coloured glasses, but it’s kind of sweet.