Name: House of Glass
ISBN: 9780008322632

Hadley Freeman

The Sunday Times bestseller 'An utterly engrossing book' Nigella Lawson 'Remarkable and gripping' Edmund de Waal 'A near-perfect study of Jewish identity in the 20th century ... I don't hesitate to call it a masterpiece' Telegraph

The Story and Secrets of a Twentieth-century Jewish Family

House of Glass

A writer investigates her family’s secret history, uncovering a story that spans a century, two World Wars, and three generations. Hadley Freeman knew her grandmother Sara lived in France just as Hitler started to gain power, but rarely did anyone in her family talk about it. Long after her grandmother’s death, she found a shoebox tucked in the closet containing photographs of her grandmother with a mysterious stranger, a cryptic telegram from the Red Cross, and a drawing signed by Picasso. This discovery sent Freeman on a decade-long quest to uncover the significance of these keepsakes, taking her from Picasso’s archives in Paris to a secret room in a farmhouse in Auvergne to Long Island to Auschwitz. Freeman pieces together the puzzle of her family’s past, discovering more about the lives of her grandmother and her three brothers, Jacques, Henri, and Alex. Their stories sometimes typical, sometimes astonishing—reveal the broad range of experiences of Eastern European Jews during Holocaust. This thrilling family saga is filled with extraordinary twists, vivid characters, and famous cameos, illuminating the Jewish and immigrant experience in the World War II era. Addressing themes of assimilation, identity, and home, this powerful story about the past echoes issues that remain relevant today.

The Story and Secrets of a Twentieth-Century Jewish Family

Fraser Simons

A great story, told expertly. I can’t even imagine how much research would have gone into this. Probably a life time of stories and then a lot of targeted research later. This Jewish family story is so wild sometimes you’d think it was staged, but she’s got receipts. 

The only thing I didn’t like was the authorial voice is so tight in this that when it breaks for some tangential thoughts it is exceptionally jarring. I think if all those had been an epilogue or coda or something like that, where it referenced the chapters or pages she’s using to go off on a tangent about, it could have been the best of both worlds. 

She does a great job narrating her story too. The perspective matches her voice and cadence very well. Had it been a closer voice it might have felt a bit off, maybe cold and flat, as so many authors end up being reading their own books. I don’t think that’s serendipity either. This whole thing has the air of attention to detail and good craftsmanship.

House of Glass The Story and Secrets of a Twentieth-century Jewish Family

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