Description

This is a story of suffering and heroism, love and hatred, death and survival during the most destructive years of the 20th century in Europe. The book recounts the history of Kate Bosse-Griffiths and her family during the Second World War, and the effects of the Nazi policy of genocide on her and her family, of German-Jewish descent. This is a poignant and moving story which relates the murder of her mother, the suicide of her aunt, her surgeon father being made redundant from his post, and the family's persecution. Following the war Kate went on to be one of Wales' leading literary and academic figures. The book is based on hundreds of letters, documents, and first hand accounts by members of the family, telling of the Nazi-inspired attacks of Kristallnacht, life under the brutal regime, efforts to flee, and the horror of life inside concentration camps. The Welsh-language edition was Welch Book of the Year 2013. "A multilayered, moving literary memoir of a half-Jewish family torn apart during the Nazi era. . . By turns crushing and uplifting."--Kirkus Reviews, June 15, 2014