AND THE CELLO CAME TOO: A Story of Survival

When Robin Lustig's mother died in 2013, he found himself drawn back into the tangled history of his German-Jewish family -- a story of survival, exile, death and endurance. And the Cello Came Too is both a personal memoir and a family chronicle, spanning centuries of Jewish life in Europe, its near-destruction under the Nazis and its slow rebirth in the years after the Second World War.

At its heart is the award-winning journalist and broadcaster's father, Fritz Lustig, a refugee from Berlin whose cello accompanied him through upheaval, war and a new life in Britain. From Enlightenment rabbis and pioneering journalists to the 'Three Old Ladies' who helped to shape his childhood, Lustig pieces together a sweeping narrative from letters, memoirs, and memory.

This is a history not just of persecution but also of resilience and continuity -- of lives rebuilt, music played, and stories reclaimed. Moving, intimate, and meticulously researched, And the Cello Came Too shows how one family's journey can illuminate the universal struggle to survive, remember, and belong.

Robin Lustig studied politics at the University of Sussex and began his journalistic career as a Reuters correspondent in Madrid, Paris and Rome. He then spent twelve years at The Observer as news reporter, news editor, Middle East correspondent, home affairs editor and assistant editor before moving into broadcasting in 1989. He presented The World Tonight on BBC Radio 4 and Newshour on the BBC World Service, for whom he covered several major world events including the reunification of Germany in 1990, the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, the handover of Hong Kong to China in 1997, and the 9/11 attacks in 2001. He has lived in, worked in, or reported from more than ninety countries, and has interviewed political leaders from Nelson Mandela at one end of the spectrum to the convicted war criminal Radovan Karadzic at the other. He left the BBC in 2012, received the Charles Wheeler award for outstanding contribution to broadcast journalism in 2013, and was named Independent Blogger of the Year in 2014. He lives in London.