In the Garden of Memory: A Memoir

In the Garden of Memory: A Memoir

by JoannaOlczak-Ronikier (Author)

Synopsis

From the synagogues of nineteenth-century Vienna to Britain and the war years, the story of the Horowitz family reads like an epic novel. A wonderfully intimate family portrait, it follows the lives of four generations of Polish Jews who lived through - and mostly survived - the turbulent twentieth century. Full of tales of bravery as well as the comical anecdotes of everyday life, the book follows the family members as they are dispersed around the world - to European spas, tsarist prisons, Soviet war camps and the British RAF. One became an undercover agent, another a zoologist in France, another a leading Freudian psychiatrist. Amazingly only two members were victims of the Holocaust, though the Second World War left lasting psychological after-effects on all the survivors. However this is ultimately an uplifting story - of a family that never gave up hope and never gave in.

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More Information

Format: Hardcover
Pages: 336
Edition: First British Edition
Publisher: Weidenfeld & Nicolson
Published: 11 Nov 2004

ISBN 10: 0297645498
ISBN 13: 9780297645498
Book Overview: Intelligently and poignantly written in the style of DEFYING HITLER Covers the whole of the twentieth-century rather than just the war years, a brilliant evocation of 3 generations. Winner of the Polish Samuel-Johnson Prize 2002 : the 'Nike'

Media Reviews
'This book will delight anyone who likes to read of the past as seen through the eyes of the people living it...She tells her story with a tender matter-of-factness that makes it come alive, and displays a refreshing lack of hindsight: the narrative is not, as is so often the case, marked by the shadow of the impending Holocaust. Indeed, nothing in this wonderful tale is obvious, nothing is predictable.' - Adam Zamoyski THE SPECTATOR (8.1.04)
Author Bio
Joanna Olczak-Ronikier was born in 1934 and is a highly acclaimed writer and journalist. She has also written a film scenario for Andrzej Wajda. Her grandparents, the Mortkowicz family, ran one of the best literary bookshops and publishing houses in Poland before World War II.