Mitch Albom talks new best-selling novel 'The Little Liar' at Naples event that drew 650

Dave Osborn, Naples Daily News
·2 min read
Best-selling author Mitch Albom spoke Dec. 3, 2023, at the Greater Naples Jewish Book Festival. Albom discussed his latest novel, "The Little Liar," before about 650 people at the Nina Iser Jewish Cultural Center in Naples. He also signed copies of the book.
Best-selling author Mitch Albom spoke Dec. 3, 2023, at the Greater Naples Jewish Book Festival. Albom discussed his latest novel, "The Little Liar," before about 650 people at the Nina Iser Jewish Cultural Center in Naples. He also signed copies of the book.
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Best-selling author Mitch Albom earlier this month kicked off the Greater Naples Jewish Book Festival.

He received a standing ovation from about 650 people Dec. 3 after discussing his latest novel, "The Little Liar," at the Nina Iser Jewish Cultural Center in Naples, festival organizers said.

Albom also signed copies of the book, which focuses on four main characters and how the Holocaust shaped their lives.

"The Little Liar," a novel by Mitch Albom that published in November 2023.
"The Little Liar," a novel by Mitch Albom that published in November 2023.

The festival highlighted books about Jewish subjects or written by Jewish authors and is held locally in cooperation with the Jewish Book Council, the longest-running organization devoted exclusively to the support and celebration of Jewish literature.

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"The Little Liar" already has become another best-seller for Albom, whose "Tuesdays with Morrie" remains the best-selling memoir ever. "The Little Liar" ― which published in mid-November ― is No. 6 this week on the New York Times list of best-selling hardcover fiction.

Albom since 1989 has worked as a columnist for the Detroit Free Press, which is part of the USA Today Network along with the Naples Daily News and The News-Press of Fort Myers.

Best-selling author Mitch Albom spoke Dec. 3, 2023, at the Greater Naples Jewish Book Festival. Albom discussed his latest novel, "The Little Liar," before about 650 people at the Nina Iser Jewish Cultural Center in Naples. He also signed copies of the book.
Best-selling author Mitch Albom spoke Dec. 3, 2023, at the Greater Naples Jewish Book Festival. Albom discussed his latest novel, "The Little Liar," before about 650 people at the Nina Iser Jewish Cultural Center in Naples. He also signed copies of the book.

Albom said he arrived at the idea to write the book eight or nine years ago. While there's been a rise in antisemitism in recent years, and the Oct. 7 massacre of Israelis near the Gaza Strip, that happened well after Albom settled on the story two years ago.

"I'd always been looking for a story set during World War II and during the Holocaust but I felt there had been so many books already written about that, that I was kind of hard-pressed to find a new angle," Albom told the Daily News in late October.

"I didn't want to just write another book that took place during the concentration camps. There's just been so many done like that."

Albom, who is Jewish, grew up hearing stories about the Holocaust from family and friends and knew people who survived it.

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"You don’t have to go far to hear stories of that and I’m old enough to remember when that was very present, growing up the ‘60s and hearing people less than 20 years earlier who had escaped concentration camps."

Dave Osborn is the regional features editor of the Naples Daily News and News-Press. Follow him on Instagram and Threads @lacrossewriter and on X (formerly Twitter) @NDN_dosborn.

This article originally appeared on Naples Daily News: Mitch Albom talks new best-selling novel 'The Little Liar' in Naples