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Yoel has always known that his mother escaped the Nazis from Amsterdam. But it is not until after she has died that he finally visits the city of his birth. There, watching an old film clip at the Jewish Historical Museum, he sees a woman with a small child: it is his mother, but the child is not him. So begins a fervent search for the truth that becomes the subject of his magnum opus, revealing Amsterdam's dark wartime history and the underground networks which hid Jewish children away from danger - but at a cost.
About the author
Emuna Elon is an internationally bestselling Israeli novelist, journalist, teacher and women's activist, who currently lives in Jerusalem. Her first novel translated into English, If You Awaken Love, was a National Jewish Book Award finalist and House on Endless Waters has been optioned for TV/film adaptation.
This novel was translated from its original Hebrew by the late Anthony Berris (1934-2018) and Linda Yechiel, a Canadian-born editor and translator based in Israel.
Summary
'I read this book in excitement and wonder. It's not only a touching and fascinating book, but a sophisticated one as well.' Amos Oz
Yoel has always known that his mother escaped the Nazis from Amsterdam. But it is not until after she has died that he finally visits the city of his birth. There, watching an old film clip at the Jewish Historical Museum, he sees a woman with a small child: it is his mother, but the child is not him. So begins a fervent search for the truth that becomes the subject of his magnum opus, revealing Amsterdam's dark wartime history and the underground networks which hid Jewish children away from danger - but at a cost.
'[A] jewel box of a novel' - New York Times
Foreword
A moving novel about a writer's transformative journey in Amsterdam, where he discovers the truth about his mother's wartime experience - and about himself.
