Life Is Rosi: Grandma, Me and Our Diaries at 23
Published by HarperCollins / Mudlark – January 2026
Life Is Rosi is a warm, witty and deeply human memoir in which Jess Robinson juxtaposes two personal diaries written 80 years apart – her own at 23 and those of her German Jewish grandmother, Rosi, also 23 when she was expelled from Nazi Germany and interned in Zbąszyń, Poland. With each freshly translated page of Rosi’s wartime diary, Jess unpacks what it means to carry memory, resilience and identity through generations, while navigating her own fledgling acting career, relationships and self-doubt in early adulthood.
Exploring lessons in survival, the traits inherited from our matriarchs, and the messy, beautiful complexity of finding oneself, the book is both “fresh, funny” and moving – getting to the heart of who we are, wherever we are.
Jess brings warmth, humour and insight to book events, festivals and in-conversation evenings.
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Praise for Life Is Rosi
“This is a unique juxtaposition of the shatteringly honest diaries of two Jewish girls fighting to survive…
Miriam Margolyes
It appalled, uplifted and delighted me. I wish I’d written it.”
“I loved every word of it. Funny, fascinating, infuriating and so deeply personal. It’s quite the achievement to create something so raw, so funny, and so clever.”
Adam Hills
About the Book
When Rosi was 23, her diary documented every detail of life under threat, from Gestapo raids to stolen conversations with her first love. When Jess was the same age, her diary recorded the ups and downs of London life, acting auditions, diet obsessions and frantic self-discovery. By placing these two voices side by side, Life Is Rosi reveals surprising parallels in joy, ambition, vulnerability and courage across time and circumstance.
The result is a memoir that feels both profoundly personal and universally resonant – a story of family, of inherited strengths and vulnerabilities, and of the radical act of recognising one’s own voice.
“Deeply moving… fascinating”
The Mail on Sunday
Life is Rosi is available in Hardback, eBook and Audiobook.
