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Almonds and Raisins #4
Out of the Ashes
The matriarch of a proud, fiercely independent, and troubled Jewish clan, Marianne Dean battles to hold the warring factions of the family together in the face of division from within and from without and despite her own feelings
448 pages, Paperback
First published July 12, 1990
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103 people want to read
About the author
Maisie Mosco
20 books19 followersMaisie Mosco was born as Maisie Gottlieb. Her parents were of Latvian Jewish and Viennese Jewish descent, and both emigrated to England around 1900.
She left school at the age of 14 to help in the family business. At the age of 18 she joined the ATS and at the end of World War II was helping to teach illiterate soldiers how to read. After the war, she edited the Jewish Gazette, and subsequently wrote radio plays for the BBC.
Mosco wrote 16 novels between 1979 and 1998. These included the 'Almonds and Raisins' series, which contained elements of her own family history.
She married twice: to Aubrey Liston in 1948, then to Gerald Mosco in 1957.
She left school at the age of 14 to help in the family business. At the age of 18 she joined the ATS and at the end of World War II was helping to teach illiterate soldiers how to read. After the war, she edited the Jewish Gazette, and subsequently wrote radio plays for the BBC.
Mosco wrote 16 novels between 1979 and 1998. These included the 'Almonds and Raisins' series, which contained elements of her own family history.
She married twice: to Aubrey Liston in 1948, then to Gerald Mosco in 1957.
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
January 26, 2017
This book was written in the 1980s. It was supposed to be a family saga with a grand scope. I found it to be plodding and petty. It did not develop the characters well enough to keep them straight. I was still referring to the family tree at the beginning of the book after I was over 200 pages into it. I knew these people were never going to become real to me.
Maybe I would have found it enjoyable in the 80s - but I doubt it.
Maybe I would have found it enjoyable in the 80s - but I doubt it.
August 24, 2025
This completes for me the books that make up this family saga. In one way, it was like revisiting family friends, and in another way, it was a bit ploddy and not as interesting as earlier books in the series.
In one way, too, it felt sad to me the thought that what goes round comes round, and the world hasn't changed that much at all. All the things the writer mentioned happening with regard to Israel and rising antisemitism in the 1980s are happening again today, and things, if anything, are worse than ever. I found this depressing and sad to read and reflect on.
I can't fault the writing. when the story gets going. However, there are far too many characters to keep track of in this extended family, and it was hard to keep track of who they all were and who was who. There was a lot of recapping, too. This slowed down the pace of the story.
To be honest, anyone not having read the previous books in this saga would have a hard job, I think, relating to them all or at all. it was like a snapshot or jumpy video of someone s diary, and the main character - indeed the whole clan dead or alive - must surely be based on the author herself and her family.
Having said all that, the characters felt real and relatable and familiar, and I empathised with many of the circumstances, feelings, and situations. it's just with such a sprawling and numerous cast, the book didn't have the depth to successfully tell so many of their stories and situations as well as perhaps it could have..
I didn't read these books when they first came out, but I'm glad to have read them now. I just thought the earlier books got more to my heart and were more enjoyable a read.
In one way, too, it felt sad to me the thought that what goes round comes round, and the world hasn't changed that much at all. All the things the writer mentioned happening with regard to Israel and rising antisemitism in the 1980s are happening again today, and things, if anything, are worse than ever. I found this depressing and sad to read and reflect on.
I can't fault the writing. when the story gets going. However, there are far too many characters to keep track of in this extended family, and it was hard to keep track of who they all were and who was who. There was a lot of recapping, too. This slowed down the pace of the story.
To be honest, anyone not having read the previous books in this saga would have a hard job, I think, relating to them all or at all. it was like a snapshot or jumpy video of someone s diary, and the main character - indeed the whole clan dead or alive - must surely be based on the author herself and her family.
Having said all that, the characters felt real and relatable and familiar, and I empathised with many of the circumstances, feelings, and situations. it's just with such a sprawling and numerous cast, the book didn't have the depth to successfully tell so many of their stories and situations as well as perhaps it could have..
I didn't read these books when they first came out, but I'm glad to have read them now. I just thought the earlier books got more to my heart and were more enjoyable a read.
March 4, 2021
Well, well, well! This novel was a surprise! I picked up a paperback copy of this 1989 book at a yard sale. It was packaged and presented like a thriller. On the cover was a menorah beginning to be overshadowed by a bird of prey I took--at first glance--to be a Nazi eagle.
But it was actually a phoenix. And the accompanying text put the book outside the usual realm of a thriller. Or did it? Good copywriting, I thought to myself. Interesting set of characters and story problems.
The protagonist is a widowed author, whose Jewish family has lost its matriarch to old age and death. Reluctantly, Marianne steps into those shoes, advising and nurturing a family struggling still with the generational trauma of hatred and murder that set the world on fire in World War Two.
Even more dismaying is the recent resurfacing of Nazis in Germany and other countries. Then, out of the proverbial blue, Marianne meets Simon, a man who shakes her out of her contentment with widowhood. But is he too controlling?
(Did we talk about men being too controlling back in 1989? I personally didn't remember that phrase from back then. I found Marianne to be pretty kick-ass, overall.)
The family roils with shock when one of the clan marries a German national. But the shock is much greater when this man, now divorced, moves to Germany to remain part of his son's life.
Through these strands and those of the past, all things Marianne considers as she grapples with her own decision-making in the evening of her years, we experience an illuminating multigenerational saga.
But it was actually a phoenix. And the accompanying text put the book outside the usual realm of a thriller. Or did it? Good copywriting, I thought to myself. Interesting set of characters and story problems.
The protagonist is a widowed author, whose Jewish family has lost its matriarch to old age and death. Reluctantly, Marianne steps into those shoes, advising and nurturing a family struggling still with the generational trauma of hatred and murder that set the world on fire in World War Two.
Even more dismaying is the recent resurfacing of Nazis in Germany and other countries. Then, out of the proverbial blue, Marianne meets Simon, a man who shakes her out of her contentment with widowhood. But is he too controlling?
(Did we talk about men being too controlling back in 1989? I personally didn't remember that phrase from back then. I found Marianne to be pretty kick-ass, overall.)
The family roils with shock when one of the clan marries a German national. But the shock is much greater when this man, now divorced, moves to Germany to remain part of his son's life.
Through these strands and those of the past, all things Marianne considers as she grapples with her own decision-making in the evening of her years, we experience an illuminating multigenerational saga.
December 22, 2024
Every so often, it's soothing to settle down with an old-fashioned family saga, and that's what this book is – one of a series of novels about a large Jewish family living in both Manchester and London, England in the 1980s.
Of course, it is somewhat dated as to the particulars of its time and place, but I still found it enjoyable, and the central character, Marianne, a successful novelist in late middle age, was someone I could relate to. She is independent-minded and spirited, a woman who makes her own choices, though she also fills the role of family matriarch – the one all of her relatives turn to in a crisis.
Widowed from a happy marriage, and a mother and grandmother, she is anything but stuffy or old-fashioned, and is focused on her writing career. How will she handle a new romance?
The novel also is heavily focused on Jewish family traditions, and coping with issues such as intermarriage, homosexuality (and because it is the 80s, AIDS), but also how the family responds to and copes with rising anti-Semitism and Neo-Nazism.
A good read for a cold weekend!
Of course, it is somewhat dated as to the particulars of its time and place, but I still found it enjoyable, and the central character, Marianne, a successful novelist in late middle age, was someone I could relate to. She is independent-minded and spirited, a woman who makes her own choices, though she also fills the role of family matriarch – the one all of her relatives turn to in a crisis.
Widowed from a happy marriage, and a mother and grandmother, she is anything but stuffy or old-fashioned, and is focused on her writing career. How will she handle a new romance?
The novel also is heavily focused on Jewish family traditions, and coping with issues such as intermarriage, homosexuality (and because it is the 80s, AIDS), but also how the family responds to and copes with rising anti-Semitism and Neo-Nazism.
A good read for a cold weekend!
November 4, 2022
Dud not finish
December 4, 2023
A good read and I enjoyed the changing “family” as they moved through the last century.
August 17, 2025
I love this series of books by Maisie Mosco. I read the first three a while ago, but picking this up was as if I'd never had a break, such is her way with the characters. Thoroughly enjoyable read.
December 2, 2014
Enjoyed the book although sometimes I found it difficult keeping the minor characters and their relationships straight in my head. It was an insightful look into FAMILY. Jewish in this case with all its highs and lows, struggles to fit in and understand and make sense of their shared history and finally accept themselves for who they are. It could have been any family from any culture, religion or historical chaos as all families are complicated. Marianne found herself to have taken over the position of matriarch from her grandmother, Sarah, without realising how it happened. Eventually she had to come to grips with her own life and needs and realise that ultimately she wasn't indispensable.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews