A Double Thread: A Childhood in Mile End - And Beyond (Reminiscence)

John Gross is the son of a Jewish doctor who practised in the East End of London from the 1920s through the Second World War and beyond. His parents were steeped in the customs and traditions of Eastern Europe, yet outside the home, he grew up in a very English world of comic and corner shops, sandbags and bombsites, battered school desks and addictive, dusty cinemas. Looking back on his childhood, he traces this double inheritance. The religion that underpinned family life - Yiddish stories and jokes, the rituals and mysteries of the synagogue - is set against the life of the streets, where gangsters are heroes and patients turn up on the doorstep at all hours.

A touching memoir of a Jewish-English childhood in 1940s East End London.

John Gross is the son of a Jewish doctor who practiced in East End London from the 1920s to WW2 and later. His parents were the children of immigrants, steeped in the customs and traditions of Eastern Europe, yet outside the home he grew up in the very English world of comics and corner shops, sandbags and bombsites. Looking back on his childhood with humour and insight, he reflects on his double inheritance. The richness of Yiddish words, the rituals and mysteries of the synagogue are set against the life of the streets, where boxers and gangsters are heroes.