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Synopsis
From their heroic feats on the battlefields of World War I to the rise of Hitler and a tragic culmination at Treblinka, this is one family’s extraordinary history.
Nancy’s father was not like other fathers in their northern English town. Elegantly dressed after the Eastern European fashion, an impeccable violin player, and never without a rose in his lapel, her father’s entire essence alluded to a hidden and haunting past. Upon his death, Nancy, on a quest to rediscover her family’s past, delves into the endless boxes of letters and diaries her father carried when he fled Czechoslovakia in 1939.There were times of joy: a son’s return from the trenches of Verdune; the birth of grandchildren; a growing family business. But there was also fear. As the first stormtroopers march into Podersam, Nancy witnesses the disintegration of the family through their increasingly desperate letters. My Father’s Roses is a compelling and intimate testament to the persistence of family, memory, and the bonds of kinship in the face of humanity’s darkest hour. 16 b&w illustrations
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About the Author
Nancy Kohner spent two decades piecing together her family's history from the suitcases of diaries, letters, and photographs her father brought out of Prague before her death in 2006.
From Publishers Weekly
Kohner, born in England in 1950, grew up with little understanding of her father's earlier life as a Jewish refugee from Czechoslovakia. After his 1987 death, she went through the correspondence, diaries, photographs and other documents he brought from Prague, which spurred her into two decades of research to reconstruct his story. Her odyssey resulted in this poignant portrait of three generations. Many family letters illuminate the narrative, which begins in 1896, when her grandparents met, and ends in the early 1940s, with her 64-year-old grandmother Valerie in Nazi-occupied Prague, writing letters to her sons, aware of her impending doom: We lived such a beautiful, peaceful life. It's a good thing that no one can take away our memories. In 1942, Valerie arrived at the Treblinka death camp. Kohler (who died in 2006) provides an evocative, moving but unsentimental book that captures the commonplace details of ordinary lives torn apart by the darkening cloud of world events. (Jan. 15)
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- PublisherHodder & Stoughton
- Publication date2008
- ISBN 10 0340960256
- ISBN 13 9780340960257
- BindingPaperback
- Number of pages304
- Rating
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My Father's Roses
Published by
Hodder & Stoughton, Uk, 2008
ISBN 10: 0340960256
ISBN 13: 9780340960257
Used
Paperback
First Edition
Seller: Marlowes Books and Music, Ferny Grove, QLD, Australia
Seller rating 4 out of 5 stars
Paperback. Condition: Fine. First Edition. 277 pages. Book appears to have hardly been read and is in Fine condition throughout. Seller Inventory # 208076
Quantity: 1 available
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My Fathers Roses
Seller: Boobooks, ARMIDALE, NSW, Australia
Seller rating 5 out of 5 stars
Paperback. 82008. Nancy Kohner spent two decades piecing together her family's history from the suitcase of diaries, letters and photographs that her father brought out of Prague before she died in 2006. The result is the extraordinary and touching record of a Jewish family caught up in the tumult of two world wars. Nancys grandparents and their three children find their sanctuary in the garden of the small town where they live between Prague and the German border called Podersam. There they have their happiest times at the reunion when the eldest son returns from the trenches of World War I, when their youngest son joins them in the family linen business, and when their daughter gives birth to their first grandchild. But instability and danger are the permanent backdrop. When the Nazi Storm Troopers march into Podersam their lives will never be the same again. The daughter commits suicide while the two sons escape to England and Ireland. The last batch of letters from the grandmother make it poignantly clear that her fate is destined for the death camp of Treblinka. Good condition. Light tanning. Seller Inventory # 23572075
Quantity: 1 available