Daly City, CA -- (SBWIRE) -- 07/16/2013 -- Those who meet Nitza Agam see a confident woman, touring California to conduct readings of her book, inspiring readers and meeting others from all walks of life. The book she holds in her hand is a literary microcosm of a life touched by war, grief, aging and death. It is Agam’s own life, and she is driven to share her words with the world in the hope that they will empower women and help them to reflect upon their own experiences.

A passerby who sees Agam walking along the street would not be able to tell that while living in Israel, she lost her first fiancé to the war at the tender age of 22, or that she suffered through witnessing war as a young woman. Her book is her testament to those years, telling her story in intimate, often devastating detail. It is this unflinching attention to the truth that makes ‘Scent of Jasmine’ such a riveting memoir.

Synopsis of ‘Scent of Jasmine’:

The memoir is about dramatic moments of life, large and small, including war, loss, grief, aging, and is a series of vignettes in poetry and prose about the author's life. The centrepiece is the first selection that takes place during the Yom Kippur War of 1973 in Israel when the author's fiancé is killed. It also takes place in New Jersey and San Francisco. It is about losing one's lover, losing one's virginity, giving birth, friendship, aging of parents and their inevitable death.

The author explains that ‘Scent of Jasmine’ does not contain just her voice – it is the collective voice of women across the world.

“I write about my own life, and I do not hold back. Many people are amazed at my ability to be honest about my life, but for me there is no other way. I also feel through my own experiences, that women’s voices are not shared enough, not heard ... that there is not enough of a light shone on our inner lives.”

Continuing, “My book explores the experience of war from the perspective of a young woman – a topic that is not normally discussed. These subjects are like locked doors – we need to open them, and that is what I strive to do.”

To date, the book has attracted a consistent swell of support, with readers leaving rave reviews. For example, Angela Neff comments, "The pain is so unbearable she has to leave Israel. But no matter where she lives, the love and loss of her life in Israel never leave her."

While her book was written to help all women accept and realize that they are not alone in their experiences, it also resonates strongly with the Middle Eastern and Jewish communities.

“It allows the reader to be part of a collective dramatic experience such as war, and one that impacted the small country of Israel. It explores the role of Jewish identity from an American Jewish perspective and an Israeli perspective. This is going to make interesting reading for people with the same cultural background, as well as those who want to see life from a different perspective,” she adds.

With its soft white flowers and splashes of pink, Scent of Jasmine’s cover only teases at the depths that the reader will experience. To dive into the profound and gripping ‘Scent of Jasmine’, published by Lulu, purchase here: http://amzn.to/1b4fFWb

About the Author: Nitza Agam
Nitza Agam, published poet and author, has published in a variety of magazines and anthologies such as Poetica, Reed, (San Jose State literary magazine) Bridges: A Jewish Feminist journal, (2009) The San Francisco Chronicle, and a variety of educational journals.