Somewhere Else by Jenni Daiches is an epic generational novel about womanhood and the Judaeo-Scottish experience across two World Wars, the creation of Israel and the fall of the Berlin Wall.
Longlisted for the 2025 Women’s Prize for Fiction, judge Amelia Warner says: ‘This was a beautiful book about a young child who escapes Poland and is adopted by a Scottish couple. It is an epic generational story about womanhood and living in a country when you feel home is ‘somewhere else’. Spanning the main character’s lifetime and witnessing the effect of momentous events such as both World Wars, the creation of Israel and the fall of the Berlin Wall, it shows the dramatic effect on the family for generations to come.’
To find out more about the book we spoke to Jenni about her inspirations, writing process and favourite books.
How would you describe your book to a new reader?
Somewhere Else is a story of displacement, entangled identities and renewal. It is centred on the 100-year life of Rosa Roshkin, the only member of her family to survive a pogrom in Poland in 1906. Adopted by an Edinburgh doctor and his wife, her life becomes closely linked with the family next door. The novel explores the consequences of this connection through five generations and many personal and political upheavals — love affairs and wars, departures and arrivals, ambitions and disappointments.
What was the idea that sparked your novel?
There was no single idea. The novel emerged organically from a fusion of experience, research for other projects, and family history.
Which part of the book did you write first? Was there a moment that clicked a lot of things in place or where you felt the strands of the book started to come together?
I began at the beginning. The opening was in my head for a long time before I put it into words. There wasn’t a single moment when the narrative fell into place. One thing led to another. Experiences, locations and relationships generated consequences that moved the narrative on. But I wrote the ending before I reached it.
Which part of the book was the most fun to write? Which was the most challenging?
I love writing — it’s an addiction and the source of much pleasure (as well as frustration). I greatly enjoyed writing the passage describing the first meeting of Bruce and Edie on the island of Erraid (p218) where they rewrite Stevenson’s Kidnapped.
Most challenging were the sections set in the Bergen Belsen Displaced Persons camp. I was attempting to recreate an environment and experiences that were hard to imagine and even harder to portray with integrity.
What is the best piece of writing advice you have ever received?
My father-in-law, a writer and journalist, recommended that chapters should be around 5000 words in length — a manageable chunk of prose. I’ve not kept to that but I haven’t forgotten.
Which female author would you say has impacted your work the most?
I couldn’t possible select a single writer who has ‘impacted’ my work. Of contemporary writers I particularly admire Americans such as Elizabeth Strout, Marilyn Robinson, Joyce Carol Oates, Barbara Kingsolver, Lorre Segal, Siri Hustvedt. Whether any have influenced my writing is for others to say.
What is your favourite book from the Women’s Prize library and why?
Barbara Kingsolver’s Demon Copperhead is a brilliant, deeply humane, profoundly moving novel written with vivid honesty and perception.
Could you reveal a secret about your creative process?
I have made up stories for as long as I can remember. Insomnia, dog walking, journeys, landscapes, conversations are all opportunities for the imagination to get to work. Once the imagination takes hold the urge to get words down is hard to resist. When my children were small I learned to take advantage of every minute of child-free time. That early discipline has stood me in good stead ever since.
