Jess Robinson in conversation - Glasgow Sauchiehall St

A fresh and funny family history following the lives of comedian Jess Robinson and

her German Jewish grandmother, Rosi.

When Grandma Rosi was 23, she was expelled from Nazi Germany and interned as a

refugee in Zbąszyń, Poland. She used her diary to document every detail of her

experiences, from being deported by the Gestapo to stolen conversations with her first

love.

When Jess was 23, she was living in London, struggling with a fledgling acting career, a

failed love life and rock-bottom self-esteem. She used her diary to rant about her mum

and track her daily calories. Well, it was the noughties…

Rapidly approaching her 40th birthday – and (honestly) wanting an EU passport to

beat the airport queues – comedian and impressionist Jess Robinson decided to dig into

the archives of her German Jewish ancestry. With each freshly translated page of her

grandmother’s wartime diaries, Jess set out to discover who Grandma Rosi really was –

and maybe learn a thing or two about herself. After all, it’s easy for an impressionist to

forget who they really are when they spend every day pretending to be other people…

Reopening her own diaries (which had been securely locked away for nearly two

decades), Jess follows the two young women as they navigate life at 23, finding a

shared sense of identity despite their differing circumstances.

Exploring everything from lessons in resilience to identity, trauma and womanhood, Life

Is Rosi is a warm, witty and wise book that gets to the heart of who we are, wherever we

are.

Know what’s Happening Next — before everyone else does.

Get App

Host or Publisher Waterstones