FIRST ENGLISH EDITION OF THE FRENCH BEST-SELLER
By Sarah Kaminsky
Translated by Mike Mitchell
Photographs by Adolfo Kaminsky
Hardcover and paperback. 256 pages with 28 illustrations. Ebook also available.
Adolfo Kaminsky, A Forger's Life is the gripping true story of an erstwhile forger who worked for the French Resistance, the Algerian Independence Movement, and numerous clandestine organizations over the span of nearly thirty years. A bestseller in France, the book has now been translated into seven languages and offers a rare look into the personal sacrifices of an idealist, the effect of one man's political commitments on his family, his ingenious methods for creating forgeries, and his unending hopes for peace and justice in an increasingly violent world.
My life as a forger is one long, uninterrupted resistance… against inequality, segregation, racism, injustice, fascism and dictatorships.
Short documentary produced by The New York Times.
PRESS AND PRAISE
TOP 10 MOST ANTICIPATED NON-FICTION – WALL STREET JOURNAL
Written like the best spy novels.
– TED.com
Every resistance movement had its forgers,but few have told their tales. Many, like Kaminsky, were very young technicians and chemists when they began their work. Sarah Kaminsky’s affectionate rendering of her father’s life, with all the intricacies of his trade, is a book not just about a remarkable craftsman, but a man who strove to save "every life that was in danger."
– The Times Literary Supplement
Penned in unassuming, unembellished language, perhaps as discreet as Adolfo’s self-effacing personality, and rendered in a smooth translation by Mike Mitchell, […] Sarah Kaminsky dons her father’s persona seamlessly by transcribing Adolfo’s account to her in his own voice, so the book reads like a memoir. It is a powerful homage, written with a casual, if poignant, simplicity, often masking heartfelt conundrums.
– Jerusalem Post
An engrossing debut … Writing in Adolfo’s voice gives this suspenseful narrative candor and immediacy.
– Kirkus Reviews
Kaminsky’s career as a forger is remarkable by any standard. He served almost every major revolutionary or subversive cause in the world from the upheavals of the 1940s until the end of the turbulent 1960s. … He was driven by principles, took no payment for his work … and kept his secret well until the new millennium. Only then did he decide to tell his incredible story, under the gentle prodding of his youngest daughter, actress Sarah Kaminsky. … The result is a riveting book.
– Haaretz
Kaminsky’s story has received attention internationally including coverage from outlets in Italy, Brazil, Germany, Algeria, Spain, Israel and Argentina. View a selection of these articles.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Sarah Kaminsky is an actress, screenwriter and author born in Algeria. She was three years old when she immigrated to France with her father Adolfo Kaminsky, two brothers and her mother Leïla, a Tuareg Algerian, law student, and anti-colonial activist whose father was a progressive imam. Sarah Kaminsky’s first book is the best-selling biography of her father, Adolfo Kaminsky, published by Éditions Calmann-Lévy in 2009 and now translated into ten languages. She has a son and lives in Paris.
Watch Sarah Kaminsky’s talk at TEDx Paris
Published with support from the Centre National du Livre and from l’Institut Français.
