THE DOUBLE BOND: PRIMO LEVI--A BIOGRAPHY (2012)

Primo Levi, who committed suicide in 1987, remains one of the most eloquent witnesses to the Holocaust. With Bond, Angier offers her own testimonial to a man whose life -- mainly spent in his native Turin -- included two successful careers, as a chemist and as a writer. She spent nearly 10 years interviewing his intimates (the major exception being Levi's widow, who refused to participate), and it is the attention she lavishes on the interviewees, their eccentricities and individual stories, that pays off. A fascinating combination of history and portraiture, Bond captures both the making of a writer and a vibrant corner of 20th-century Europe.