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Title details for House on Endless Waters by Emuna Elon - Available

House on Endless Waters

A Novel

by Emuna Elon
Jonathan Davis
Audiobook
1 of 2 copies available
Borrow Listen to a sample Listen to a sample
1 of 2 copies available
"Elon powerfully evokes the obscurity of the past and its hold on the present as we stumble through revelation after revelation with Yoel. As we accompany him on his journey...we share in his loss, surprise, and grief, right up to the novel's shocking conclusion." —The New York Times Book Review

In the tradition of The Invisible Bridge and The Weight of Ink, "a vibrant, page-turning family mystery" (Jennifer Cody Epstein, author of Wunderland) about a writer who discovers the truth about his mother's wartime years in Amsterdam, unearthing a shocking secret that becomes the subject of his magnum opus.
Renowned author Yoel Blum reluctantly agrees to visit his birthplace of Amsterdam to promote his books, despite promising his late mother that he would never return to that city. While touring the Jewish Historical Museum with his wife, Yoel stumbles upon footage portraying prewar Dutch Jewry and is astonished to see the youthful face of his beloved mother staring back at him, posing with his father, his older sister...and an infant he doesn't recognize.

This unsettling discovery launches him into a fervent search for the truth, shining a light on Amsterdam's dark wartime history—the underground networks that hid Jewish children away from danger and those who betrayed their own for the sake of survival. The deeper into the past Yoel digs up, the better he understands his mother's silence, and the more urgent the question that has unconsciously haunted him for a lifetime—Who am I?—becomes.

Part family mystery, part wartime drama, House on Endless Waters is "a rewarding meditation on survival" (Kirkus Reviews, starred review) and a "deeply immersive achievement that brings to life stories that must never be forgotten" (USA TODAY).

  • Creators

  • Publisher

  • Release date

    January 7, 2020

  • Formats

    • OverDrive Listen audiobook

      • ISBN: 9781797102382
      • File size: 292406 KB
      • Duration: 10:09:10

  • Languages

    • English

  • Reviews

    • AudioFile Magazine
      In this audiobook, Israeli novelist Yoel Blum visits the Jewish Museum in Amsterdam, where he stumbles upon a video image of his family during WWII. His shock at seeing another boy in the footage compels him to dig into his family's past. Narrator Jonathan Davis artfully portrays Yoel's intelligent introspection as he uncovers stunning truths about his family and racial heritage. Davis's gravitas lends credence to Yoel's emotional journey, and to the deplorable persecution of Jews in Holland during the war. Yoel parlays his research into a new novel, and passages from his book about his mother's endeavors in Amsterdam in the 1940s are interspersed with Yoel's own experiences in contemporary times. Transitions between timeframes aren't well delineated, resulting in a muddled storyline--but a compelling listen, nonetheless. N.M.C. © AudioFile 2020, Portland, Maine

Formats

  • OverDrive Listen audiobook

subjects

Languages

  • English

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