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The Legacy
Russell Woolfe, a faded TV producer, is struggling with his father's death. Deeply uncomfortable with his own Jewish identity, he is torn between anger with his father-estranged over Russell's marrying a non-Jewish woman - and grief over their failure to reconcile. At his father's memorial Russell meets Joe Kuchinsky, a Polish survivor who unaccountably latches on to him. Kuchinsky claims to possess an ancient Hebrew manuscript that has been in his family for generations and which he wants to have translated before he dies. Kuchinsky believes fervently that the manuscript contains some important ancient wisdom-perhaps, even, the key to the survival of the Jewish people. Despite his doubts, Russell agrees to inspect the manuscript and tell Kuchinsky what it contains. Thus begins an international mystery that stretches a thousand years in the past, is wrapped in the tragedy of the Holocaust, and which comes to a startling conclusion that has dire personal consequences for everyone caught up in the saga. Filled with depth and pathos, The Legacy is destined to become one of the most important historical novels of the 21st century.
400 pages, Kindle Edition
Published April 10, 2018
23 people are currently reading
77 people want to read
About the author
Melanie Phillips
34 books160 followersMelanie Phillips, journalist, broadcaster and author, is Britain’s best known and most controversial champion of traditional values in the culture war.
Her weekly column, which currently appears in The Times of London, has been published over the years in the Guardian, Observer, Sunday Times and Daily Mail. She also writes for the Jerusalem Post and Jewish Chronicle, is a regular panellist on BBC Radio's The Moral Maze and speaks on public platforms throughout the English-speaking world.
Her best-selling book Londonistan, about the British establishment's capitulation to Islamist aggression, was published in 2006. She followed this in 2010 with The World Turned Upside Down: the Global Battle over God, Truth and Power.
Her first novel, The Legacy, which deals with conflicted Jewish identity, antisemitism and the power of history, was published in April by Post Hill Press. Her personal and political memoir, Guardian Angel, was published by Post Hill Press in January.
Among her earlier books is All Must Have Prizes, a devastating critique of Britain's education system. She is also the author of The Sex-Change Society: Feminised Britain and the Neutered Male, published by the Social Market Foundation, America's Social Revolution, published by Civitas, and The Ascent of Woman, a history of the ideas behind the female suffrage campaign, published by Little, Brown. She also wrote a play, Traitors, which was performed at the Drill Hall in London in 1985
Her weekly column, which currently appears in The Times of London, has been published over the years in the Guardian, Observer, Sunday Times and Daily Mail. She also writes for the Jerusalem Post and Jewish Chronicle, is a regular panellist on BBC Radio's The Moral Maze and speaks on public platforms throughout the English-speaking world.
Her best-selling book Londonistan, about the British establishment's capitulation to Islamist aggression, was published in 2006. She followed this in 2010 with The World Turned Upside Down: the Global Battle over God, Truth and Power.
Her first novel, The Legacy, which deals with conflicted Jewish identity, antisemitism and the power of history, was published in April by Post Hill Press. Her personal and political memoir, Guardian Angel, was published by Post Hill Press in January.
Among her earlier books is All Must Have Prizes, a devastating critique of Britain's education system. She is also the author of The Sex-Change Society: Feminised Britain and the Neutered Male, published by the Social Market Foundation, America's Social Revolution, published by Civitas, and The Ascent of Woman, a history of the ideas behind the female suffrage campaign, published by Little, Brown. She also wrote a play, Traitors, which was performed at the Drill Hall in London in 1985
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January 2, 2023Review to come
June 22, 2018
Using fiction to bring readers around to one’s point of view is not just difficult, it’s also very risky. Even when a novelist is not attempting to sway the reader to a particular viewpoint, plotting a story to reach a certain ending can force the writer to ignore inconvenient facts, portray odd character behavior, or rely on twisted logic.
The Legacy is British political commentator Melanie Phillips’ first novel. In it, her protagonist, Russell Woolfe, a British Jewish TV producer, comes to see the flaws in his previous worldview. In particular, as a result a series of unexpected events, he revises his connection, or the lack thereof, to Judaism as well as alters his relationship with his daughter.
Book-marking Woolfe’s personal journey are two historical massacres of Jews that Phillips mines for their ability to change her protagonist’s view of the world and his place in it.
Woolfe learns of both tragedies when he is approached at a service for his deceased father by an elderly man who asks him to translate the contents of a rare book written in an odd form of Hebrew. It turns out the book is a first-hand telling of a 12th century atrocity that occurred against the Jewish residents of York, England. When Woolfe learns the book’s owner is not who he thought, he undertakes a second quest––one that results in his uncovering the horrific murder of thousands of Polish Jews in a specific city in Poland during World War II.
Poland has been in the news lately as a result of the passage of a law that outlaws claims that the Polish people were involved in the Holocaust. The true story of the Jedwabne atrocity refutes the assertion that the Poles were innocent by-standers and, in Phillips’ story, bringing out the truth of that event helps her protagonist realize that his lack of knowledge about his family’s past represents a hole in his life.
It’s clear that Phillips seeks through The Legacy to “educate” her readers about the Jewish people being a convenient scapegoat for religious and political tyrants right up to the present. By taking her protagonist to Israel she hopes to open the eyes of liberal Jews to the distortion inherent in the notion that the Palestinian people are victims of Israeli occupation, apartheid, and genocide.
While her story is cleverly constructed and while she avoids hammering readers over the head, hoping to persuade via the transformation of her main character, the question I wonder whether her target readers will feel manipulated. It’s hard to hide your underlying message when you create a character you don’t particularly admire and force him to change as a result of unusual events.
I must also find fault with Phillips’ publisher for putting the following teaser on the back cover: “Does the mystery behind a recently discovered medieval manuscript hold the secret to the survival of the Jewish people?”
The answer to that question is ‘no.’ Worse, it sets forth a false expectation for the novel.
While Phillips clearly had ambitions for the story behind the awakening of one human being, the publisher’s tag line sets up readers to be disappointed. A better tag line would focus on the main character’s story line.
I also wonder if it was the publisher’s decision that the resolution of Woolfe’s changed relationship with his daughter is skimmed over. She seems to disappear from his life in the final chapters except for a reference to his intent to let her move in with him. That omission leaves the reader uncertain whether Woolfe’s awakening occurred in time to save his daughter from her bigoted mother’s oversight.
Despite it’s flaws, The Legacy not only readable, but will make you ponder some difficult questions while learning about some unsettling, but historically accurate, facts about the past. To that end, Phillips is to be applauded.
The Legacy is British political commentator Melanie Phillips’ first novel. In it, her protagonist, Russell Woolfe, a British Jewish TV producer, comes to see the flaws in his previous worldview. In particular, as a result a series of unexpected events, he revises his connection, or the lack thereof, to Judaism as well as alters his relationship with his daughter.
Book-marking Woolfe’s personal journey are two historical massacres of Jews that Phillips mines for their ability to change her protagonist’s view of the world and his place in it.
Woolfe learns of both tragedies when he is approached at a service for his deceased father by an elderly man who asks him to translate the contents of a rare book written in an odd form of Hebrew. It turns out the book is a first-hand telling of a 12th century atrocity that occurred against the Jewish residents of York, England. When Woolfe learns the book’s owner is not who he thought, he undertakes a second quest––one that results in his uncovering the horrific murder of thousands of Polish Jews in a specific city in Poland during World War II.
Poland has been in the news lately as a result of the passage of a law that outlaws claims that the Polish people were involved in the Holocaust. The true story of the Jedwabne atrocity refutes the assertion that the Poles were innocent by-standers and, in Phillips’ story, bringing out the truth of that event helps her protagonist realize that his lack of knowledge about his family’s past represents a hole in his life.
It’s clear that Phillips seeks through The Legacy to “educate” her readers about the Jewish people being a convenient scapegoat for religious and political tyrants right up to the present. By taking her protagonist to Israel she hopes to open the eyes of liberal Jews to the distortion inherent in the notion that the Palestinian people are victims of Israeli occupation, apartheid, and genocide.
While her story is cleverly constructed and while she avoids hammering readers over the head, hoping to persuade via the transformation of her main character, the question I wonder whether her target readers will feel manipulated. It’s hard to hide your underlying message when you create a character you don’t particularly admire and force him to change as a result of unusual events.
I must also find fault with Phillips’ publisher for putting the following teaser on the back cover: “Does the mystery behind a recently discovered medieval manuscript hold the secret to the survival of the Jewish people?”
The answer to that question is ‘no.’ Worse, it sets forth a false expectation for the novel.
While Phillips clearly had ambitions for the story behind the awakening of one human being, the publisher’s tag line sets up readers to be disappointed. A better tag line would focus on the main character’s story line.
I also wonder if it was the publisher’s decision that the resolution of Woolfe’s changed relationship with his daughter is skimmed over. She seems to disappear from his life in the final chapters except for a reference to his intent to let her move in with him. That omission leaves the reader uncertain whether Woolfe’s awakening occurred in time to save his daughter from her bigoted mother’s oversight.
Despite it’s flaws, The Legacy not only readable, but will make you ponder some difficult questions while learning about some unsettling, but historically accurate, facts about the past. To that end, Phillips is to be applauded.
April 29, 2018
What an interesting read! A middle aged Jewish man who looks into and finds something of his heritage as a Jewish person. He begins as an almost anti semitic Jew, definitely anti Israel. As he journeys, discovering an ancient text which deals with the Clifford tower massacre and the history of antisemitism in Britain and confronts the reality of a similar event in Poland he finds he has to journey to Israel to complete the task. This is a fascinating tale, well told and very gripping. A great first novel from Melanie Phillips who has written other social commentaries on out times and very interesting book on her journey from a standard left wing commentator at the Guardian to a sensible, concise commentator on the times we live in.
May 10, 2018
A real page-turner, well written and timely. I highly recommend this novel, and hope to review it further on my website, www.christinesunderland.com. Melanie Phillips tells the truth about painful subjects, and we all benefit from her articulate lens into our culture and our history.
July 19, 2018
This was a great book, torn out of the headlines and describing exactly what Jewish life in England must feel like. Every side was described accurately and fairly sympathetically. I empathized with the main character and learned much more about the Poles being buffeted between Soviets and Nazis. This book should be read next to the newspaper. One star missing because I wanted more of an ending. Maybe a sequel is coming?
September 27, 2021
The Legacy is a deeply personal novel. We meet many characters in a landscape with many water courses which often join and then separate again as the story develops. But the thread which kept this reader gripped is self-identity with coming of age. At the outset we meet an 'ASHamed Jew' called Russell Wolfe (for the taxonomy of ASHamed Jews see Howard Jacobson’s Booker Prize-winning book ‘The Finkler Question'). Russell is a divorced, dissatisfied and morose Jewish TV producer who thinks the word ‘antisemitism’ is ‘so overused, as if the entire world was against them’. But by the end of the book’s near 400 pages he is a changed man, determined to find out more about his own legacy – his family history and the history of the Jewish People.
Why is it a deeply personal novel? Because Russell’s journey of self-identity mirrors not only that of the author but also my own (and no doubt that of many other British Jews born in the early 1950s). In her autobiographical book Guardian Angel (which I have yet to read – it’s on order) Melanie Phillips describes her journey from idealistic young liberal journalist on The Guardian to critic of the antisemitic left, identity politics and radical Islamism. My own coming-of-age journey has been very similar. Brought up in the ‘Age of Deference’ of British Jewry, believing that Britain would be good for us as long as we kept our heads down (I’ll never forget former Board of Deputies President Henry Grunwald admonishing my vocal activism in around 2008: “Jonathan, why shout when a whisper will do?”…….) I was blissfully unaware (mostly) of antisemitism for many years. Now I’m an unintentional activist, like Michael Waxman in The Legacy (though I hope I wasn’t (like him) ‘an attention-seeker and exhibitionist at school’), regularly thrown out of antisemitic meetings at universities which should know better but don’t, horrified that young Jews are forced to make their UCAS choices according to the extent of antisemitism they will encounter and that the Metropolitan Police has been infiltrated by antisemitic Islamists (?Hizbut Tahrir?) and their sympathisers – and that the same applies to several other UK public institutions.
In other words, The Legacy struck more chords for me than a Bach Cantata. Just one example: Around page 200 Russell takes his lovely new girlfriend Damia (born in Pakistan of a Hindu mother and Muslim father, educated at Cheltenham Ladies College and Bristol University) to a string quartet concert at the Wigmore Hall. As they approach the Hall, they see an anti-Israel demonstration outside – the quartet is Israeli (it isn’t named but must be based on the Jerusalem Quartet). Russell is furious: ‘Couldn’t he even take a woman out on a date without bloody Israel forcing itself into the picture? Couldn’t they have found another orchestra from anywhere else in the entire world…?' Still in ASHamed Jew mode, he worries that if he goes through the hate demonstration it would be tantamount to supporting Israel and a fellow soi-disant might see him! Here is the chord that is struck: there is a pro-Israel counter-demonstration as well (yes I was there to support the Jerusalem Quartet) and who should be holding the megaphone than his old schoolfriend Michael Waxman. Then Waxman is assaulted by one of the Israel haters. But the police accuse him of being the perpetrator! It’s depressingly familiar……. As is the beautiful performance of the quartet and the rapturous applause at the end after Hatikvah (Israel’s national anthem). But (Ms Phillips slips into Russell’s thought ) this benevolent audience ‘would also campaign against ritual slaughter and the circumcision of baby boys’ ……..
The Legacy is an outstanding work of literary scholarship, elegantly and seamlessly marrying fact –the Clifford’s Tower pogrom and mass suicide of 1190 and the 1941 massacre of the Jewish Community in Jedwabne in Poland – with fiction – the story of Russell Wolfe’s metamorphosis into someone who ‘could now see that his share in Britain had been conditional all along’ and that ‘The world, he realised with relief, wasn’t binary. There was good and bad everywhere’.
Russell’s initial Weltanschauung is disrupted and painfully questioned as a result of a chance meeting in synagogue after his father’s funeral. He meets an elderly Pole, Joe Kuchinsky, who asks him to translate an ancient manuscript, written in French but in Hebrew characters. It was written by Eliachim of Aborak. Aborak was the medieval Jewish transliteration into Hebrew of the Latin ‘Eboracum’ – the City of York in other words.
Not only do fact and fiction smoothly elide: the narrative layers often do the same. Thus Russell, whose parents had not welcomed his marriage to a non-Jew, Alice, empathises with Eliachim, who fell in love with the younger sister of the woman to whom he was betrothed and was caught by his father kissing her. The story is mirrored in another fated relationship too …….. Spoiler Alert – you’ll have to read the book!
And Russell even envies the richness of Eliachim’s life, much to his embarrassment. And the young boy’s account rubs salt into the wound of guilt for Russell, the ASHamed Jew who never wanted to find out about his grandparents.
Many other parts of the book resonated with me - and will for you. At one point Russell finds himself ‘on both sides of the barricade at the same time’ – that is, sympathising both with Israelis and Palestinians. This reminds me of an Al Quds Day in London maybe 15 years ago where we counter-demonstrated against vile hatred of Israel. We were joined by the gay rights campaigner Peter Tatchell. But then he left us - to march with the haters in sympathy with the Palestinians (they quickly disowned him though - for being gay!)
And there’s Ms Phillips’ most beautiful description of a Friday night meal with Rabbi Daniel and his wife Samantha (Russell only goes at the insistence of his teenage daughter Rosa): ‘Afterwards when he looked back on that meal the word that floated into his mind unbidden was joy’. It is at this point that the ASHamed Jew persona begins to change, in response to another guest, Sophie (married to a synagogue donor). She opines ‘Israel’s behaviour does us Jews here enormous harm’. (Another chord struck, Jewdar off the scale yet again). Sternberg, a professor of molecular science, rebuts her with history. ‘This was the first time Russell heard it said, calmly and rationally, that the facts were simply not as Russell had always assumed them to be.’
Part of the book is set in Israel – where Ms Phillips now spends much of her time. Her lyrical description of the land and its people strikes another chord for so many: the quality of the light, the chaos of the flight, the breathtaking simple beauty of Jerusalem, both ancient and modern. And the Israelis that Russell meets. His eyes are opened by the presence of Arab doctors in a hospital and by the care shown by Yael, an instructor at a stables for traumatised children - even though she is an appalling (for him) ‘settler’.
Melanie Phillips (Jewsh Chronicle, 11 May 2018) tells us that the book took years to write. All the more amazing that the narrative is seamless. I noticed that the spelling of ‘Kuchinsky’ changes but it’s deliberate (you’ll have to read it to find out why). Ms Phillips has written a magnificent, beautifully written and gripping book which both addresses head-on (but very sensitively) issues of Jewish Identification and touches on aspects of antisemitism over the past 1000 years. Highly recommended. (What a shame that it didn’t have launches at Jewish BookWeek or JW3, no doubt due to the absurd, totally unjustified cold-shouldering of Ms Phillips by the Jewish leadership in the UK. Their and our loss - not hers).
https://onthedarkside410122300.wordpr...
Why is it a deeply personal novel? Because Russell’s journey of self-identity mirrors not only that of the author but also my own (and no doubt that of many other British Jews born in the early 1950s). In her autobiographical book Guardian Angel (which I have yet to read – it’s on order) Melanie Phillips describes her journey from idealistic young liberal journalist on The Guardian to critic of the antisemitic left, identity politics and radical Islamism. My own coming-of-age journey has been very similar. Brought up in the ‘Age of Deference’ of British Jewry, believing that Britain would be good for us as long as we kept our heads down (I’ll never forget former Board of Deputies President Henry Grunwald admonishing my vocal activism in around 2008: “Jonathan, why shout when a whisper will do?”…….) I was blissfully unaware (mostly) of antisemitism for many years. Now I’m an unintentional activist, like Michael Waxman in The Legacy (though I hope I wasn’t (like him) ‘an attention-seeker and exhibitionist at school’), regularly thrown out of antisemitic meetings at universities which should know better but don’t, horrified that young Jews are forced to make their UCAS choices according to the extent of antisemitism they will encounter and that the Metropolitan Police has been infiltrated by antisemitic Islamists (?Hizbut Tahrir?) and their sympathisers – and that the same applies to several other UK public institutions.
In other words, The Legacy struck more chords for me than a Bach Cantata. Just one example: Around page 200 Russell takes his lovely new girlfriend Damia (born in Pakistan of a Hindu mother and Muslim father, educated at Cheltenham Ladies College and Bristol University) to a string quartet concert at the Wigmore Hall. As they approach the Hall, they see an anti-Israel demonstration outside – the quartet is Israeli (it isn’t named but must be based on the Jerusalem Quartet). Russell is furious: ‘Couldn’t he even take a woman out on a date without bloody Israel forcing itself into the picture? Couldn’t they have found another orchestra from anywhere else in the entire world…?' Still in ASHamed Jew mode, he worries that if he goes through the hate demonstration it would be tantamount to supporting Israel and a fellow soi-disant might see him! Here is the chord that is struck: there is a pro-Israel counter-demonstration as well (yes I was there to support the Jerusalem Quartet) and who should be holding the megaphone than his old schoolfriend Michael Waxman. Then Waxman is assaulted by one of the Israel haters. But the police accuse him of being the perpetrator! It’s depressingly familiar……. As is the beautiful performance of the quartet and the rapturous applause at the end after Hatikvah (Israel’s national anthem). But (Ms Phillips slips into Russell’s thought ) this benevolent audience ‘would also campaign against ritual slaughter and the circumcision of baby boys’ ……..
The Legacy is an outstanding work of literary scholarship, elegantly and seamlessly marrying fact –the Clifford’s Tower pogrom and mass suicide of 1190 and the 1941 massacre of the Jewish Community in Jedwabne in Poland – with fiction – the story of Russell Wolfe’s metamorphosis into someone who ‘could now see that his share in Britain had been conditional all along’ and that ‘The world, he realised with relief, wasn’t binary. There was good and bad everywhere’.
Russell’s initial Weltanschauung is disrupted and painfully questioned as a result of a chance meeting in synagogue after his father’s funeral. He meets an elderly Pole, Joe Kuchinsky, who asks him to translate an ancient manuscript, written in French but in Hebrew characters. It was written by Eliachim of Aborak. Aborak was the medieval Jewish transliteration into Hebrew of the Latin ‘Eboracum’ – the City of York in other words.
Not only do fact and fiction smoothly elide: the narrative layers often do the same. Thus Russell, whose parents had not welcomed his marriage to a non-Jew, Alice, empathises with Eliachim, who fell in love with the younger sister of the woman to whom he was betrothed and was caught by his father kissing her. The story is mirrored in another fated relationship too …….. Spoiler Alert – you’ll have to read the book!
And Russell even envies the richness of Eliachim’s life, much to his embarrassment. And the young boy’s account rubs salt into the wound of guilt for Russell, the ASHamed Jew who never wanted to find out about his grandparents.
Many other parts of the book resonated with me - and will for you. At one point Russell finds himself ‘on both sides of the barricade at the same time’ – that is, sympathising both with Israelis and Palestinians. This reminds me of an Al Quds Day in London maybe 15 years ago where we counter-demonstrated against vile hatred of Israel. We were joined by the gay rights campaigner Peter Tatchell. But then he left us - to march with the haters in sympathy with the Palestinians (they quickly disowned him though - for being gay!)
And there’s Ms Phillips’ most beautiful description of a Friday night meal with Rabbi Daniel and his wife Samantha (Russell only goes at the insistence of his teenage daughter Rosa): ‘Afterwards when he looked back on that meal the word that floated into his mind unbidden was joy’. It is at this point that the ASHamed Jew persona begins to change, in response to another guest, Sophie (married to a synagogue donor). She opines ‘Israel’s behaviour does us Jews here enormous harm’. (Another chord struck, Jewdar off the scale yet again). Sternberg, a professor of molecular science, rebuts her with history. ‘This was the first time Russell heard it said, calmly and rationally, that the facts were simply not as Russell had always assumed them to be.’
Part of the book is set in Israel – where Ms Phillips now spends much of her time. Her lyrical description of the land and its people strikes another chord for so many: the quality of the light, the chaos of the flight, the breathtaking simple beauty of Jerusalem, both ancient and modern. And the Israelis that Russell meets. His eyes are opened by the presence of Arab doctors in a hospital and by the care shown by Yael, an instructor at a stables for traumatised children - even though she is an appalling (for him) ‘settler’.
Melanie Phillips (Jewsh Chronicle, 11 May 2018) tells us that the book took years to write. All the more amazing that the narrative is seamless. I noticed that the spelling of ‘Kuchinsky’ changes but it’s deliberate (you’ll have to read it to find out why). Ms Phillips has written a magnificent, beautifully written and gripping book which both addresses head-on (but very sensitively) issues of Jewish Identification and touches on aspects of antisemitism over the past 1000 years. Highly recommended. (What a shame that it didn’t have launches at Jewish BookWeek or JW3, no doubt due to the absurd, totally unjustified cold-shouldering of Ms Phillips by the Jewish leadership in the UK. Their and our loss - not hers).
https://onthedarkside410122300.wordpr...
November 15, 2018
Almost stopped reading this book halfway through I was so irritated with the wooden characters, the obvious identity crises and the black and white stereotypes of the characters and issues. I thought it was just another right wing polemic against liberal values. But as I continued to read the second half I realized it was much more subtle and exposed the very gray area that we live in these days. As a baby-boomer liberal American Jew living in Israel for the past 25 years I realize that the good guys and bad guys, victims and abusers are not so clear cut any more.
July 26, 2018
Keen observation but a little contrived
Melanie Phillips knows the British Left and British Jews (overlapping categories to some extent) but tries too hard to throw examples of every subgroup into the mix. The story within the story was much more gripping.
Worth reading but her non fiction work is better.
Melanie Phillips knows the British Left and British Jews (overlapping categories to some extent) but tries too hard to throw examples of every subgroup into the mix. The story within the story was much more gripping.
Worth reading but her non fiction work is better.
May 5, 2024
When we first meet British television producer Russell Woolfe, he is on his way to his father’s funeral. Sitting in synagogue “for the first time in forty years [he feels] hatred in his heart.” Woolfe “hated the synagogue for its rigid complacency. He hated his fellow Jews for making him despise them. He hated himself for having exposed himself to this irritation. Most of all, he hated his father for dying.”
Yet, for Woolfe, there was no question about going to the synagogue to “perform his duty as the son and say the kaddish, the prayer for the dead.” And this despite the fact that he was estranged from a father who had renounced him for marrying a non-Jewish woman.
In the novel The Legacy by Melanie Phillips (Bombardier Books, April 2018), Woolfe’s antipathy for his religion and the history of his people plays a key role in the story. Yet a chance meeting with Joe Kuchinsky, a Polish Holocaust survivor, sets Woolfe on a path of self-reflection, one that will possibly result in a new outlook on Judaism.
Kuchinsky presents Woolfe with an ancient manuscript that allegedly holds the key to the Jewish People's survival and asks for assistance with its translation. Through the words of a medieval author by the name of Eliachim, Woolfe becomes captivated with the story of 12th century Jews living in York, England, and its hostile Christian environment. The challenge of translating this ancient text becomes exhilarating for him.
In parallel to following Eliachim’s fascinating history, Woolfe learns that Kuchinsky wasn’t completely honest when he assigned the translation task. This leads Woolfe to question how the manuscript came into Kuchinsky’s hands in the first place. Woolfe sets forth on a quest that takes him to Israel to meet with the second generation of Holocaust survivors.
The two tragic histories described in The Legacy—that of the Jews of York and the story of the Jews of Poland during the world war—make Woolfe wonder whether Jewish peoplehood is permitted in modern day Britain. This question is very pertinent today due to fears of rising antisemitism in the country.
In Woolfe’s reflections, at the narrative’s end, he must determine whether the hatred in his heart demonstrated in the novel’s opening pages can be replaced by acts of love, for both his father’s memory and “the ancient ancestry that [Woolfe] had so forcefully renounced.” As readers we come away with a growing sense that Woolfe will make the right choices how to deal with the legacy left to him by his ancestors.
Yet, for Woolfe, there was no question about going to the synagogue to “perform his duty as the son and say the kaddish, the prayer for the dead.” And this despite the fact that he was estranged from a father who had renounced him for marrying a non-Jewish woman.
In the novel The Legacy by Melanie Phillips (Bombardier Books, April 2018), Woolfe’s antipathy for his religion and the history of his people plays a key role in the story. Yet a chance meeting with Joe Kuchinsky, a Polish Holocaust survivor, sets Woolfe on a path of self-reflection, one that will possibly result in a new outlook on Judaism.
Kuchinsky presents Woolfe with an ancient manuscript that allegedly holds the key to the Jewish People's survival and asks for assistance with its translation. Through the words of a medieval author by the name of Eliachim, Woolfe becomes captivated with the story of 12th century Jews living in York, England, and its hostile Christian environment. The challenge of translating this ancient text becomes exhilarating for him.
In parallel to following Eliachim’s fascinating history, Woolfe learns that Kuchinsky wasn’t completely honest when he assigned the translation task. This leads Woolfe to question how the manuscript came into Kuchinsky’s hands in the first place. Woolfe sets forth on a quest that takes him to Israel to meet with the second generation of Holocaust survivors.
The two tragic histories described in The Legacy—that of the Jews of York and the story of the Jews of Poland during the world war—make Woolfe wonder whether Jewish peoplehood is permitted in modern day Britain. This question is very pertinent today due to fears of rising antisemitism in the country.
In Woolfe’s reflections, at the narrative’s end, he must determine whether the hatred in his heart demonstrated in the novel’s opening pages can be replaced by acts of love, for both his father’s memory and “the ancient ancestry that [Woolfe] had so forcefully renounced.” As readers we come away with a growing sense that Woolfe will make the right choices how to deal with the legacy left to him by his ancestors.
November 3, 2019
I'm genuinely not sure what to make of this novel. To me it reads more like someone trying to sort things in their own mind than it does a coherent story. Russell is a lapsed Jew (and this is important to point out, as the entire book from beginning to end is about being a Jew or not). His estranged father dies, leaving Russell feeling rootless. Whilst researching an ancient manuscript he re-engages with his faith and casts off his global elitist views on Zionism and his support for the Palestinians. I think. I'm genuinely not sure. I'm assuming Phillips has gone through a similar rediscovery of her lineage. I know she's gone from being liberal/left to right/conservative in her wider politics and she often pops up in columns or interviews giving sound common sense opinions on issues such as trans and feminism. I suppose my biggest gripe with this book is that although Russell (and through his voice the author herself) is shrugging off the liberal/left's hatred for Israel and the Jewish faith, instead of pointing out the real cause of the resurgence of antisemitism in Europe, it's put down to Christians and right-wingers. Well, huh. Damn those truck-driving Methodists, I say.
And I did rather object when one character in Israel pointed out quite rightly that England (and by extension Europe itself) is lost, the MC replies waspishly that on the contrary England is still there it's just exchanged one set of people for another. Seriously? Thanks.
And I did rather object when one character in Israel pointed out quite rightly that England (and by extension Europe itself) is lost, the MC replies waspishly that on the contrary England is still there it's just exchanged one set of people for another. Seriously? Thanks.
December 4, 2020
Lots to like in this book.
* Several story lines run simultaneously: actual/present, near past, ancient history. The second half was a real page-turner for me. Just a "good read".
* Characters are well differentiated.
* London and especially Jerusalem are well described.
* Phillips turns many socially accepted ideas on their head.
If I had to make criticisms, however, (a) things work out too perfectly, too often. When the author needs an example of scary British Muslims - there's a couple of knife wielding youths; when she needs part of the manuscript puzzle filled in - there's Kuczynski's 92-year-old sister with perfect memory and instant willingness to spill her guts (on tape); etc. And, (b) some of the characters are pretty flimsy: Kuczynski's Irish wife, for one, and then Damia the Muslim-Hindu Pakistani girlfriend who pops up halfway thru, and becomes Russell's trusted lover/confidante. I kept waiting for her to do something underhanded, seeing as how she was also his BBC producer. But no, she was just wonderful throughout. So disappointed ;-)
Still in all, this book is worth the read. An exploration of (religious) identity and confronting the past.
p.s. Did anyone else notice that Kuchinski's name changed to Kuczynski as the book progressed? What's up with that?
p.p.s., Rabbi Daniel's wife was a European language scholar. I thought for sure her character would be key to the story. Nope.
***RECOMMENDED***
* Several story lines run simultaneously: actual/present, near past, ancient history. The second half was a real page-turner for me. Just a "good read".
* Characters are well differentiated.
* London and especially Jerusalem are well described.
* Phillips turns many socially accepted ideas on their head.
If I had to make criticisms, however, (a) things work out too perfectly, too often. When the author needs an example of scary British Muslims - there's a couple of knife wielding youths; when she needs part of the manuscript puzzle filled in - there's Kuczynski's 92-year-old sister with perfect memory and instant willingness to spill her guts (on tape); etc. And, (b) some of the characters are pretty flimsy: Kuczynski's Irish wife, for one, and then Damia the Muslim-Hindu Pakistani girlfriend who pops up halfway thru, and becomes Russell's trusted lover/confidante. I kept waiting for her to do something underhanded, seeing as how she was also his BBC producer. But no, she was just wonderful throughout. So disappointed ;-)
Still in all, this book is worth the read. An exploration of (religious) identity and confronting the past.
p.s. Did anyone else notice that Kuchinski's name changed to Kuczynski as the book progressed? What's up with that?
p.p.s., Rabbi Daniel's wife was a European language scholar. I thought for sure her character would be key to the story. Nope.
***RECOMMENDED***
June 22, 2018
There are several kinds of novels, one of which is didactic. The author knowingly or unknowingly seeks to alert and educate the read to a situation or problem. Charles Dickens shone a strong light on the darker aspects of the underclass in Victorian society, and Upton Sinclair's novels led to major laws being passed.
Melanie Phillips has written a well-scripted and thought-provoking novel on the education and awakening of a fashionably liberal (Progresive) totally secular British Jew, a self-absorbed fellow totally ignorant of Jewish history, or that of his own family.
By the novel's end, he concludes that "Jewish survival" has two components: the religious belief in adhering to a Divine Covenant (NOT "Chosen People," a complete mistranslation and misunderstanding of a Hebrew idiom.). And a secular, that antisemitism is, indeed, "the eternal hatred."
Jews are singled out for hatred just for bring Jews, an easy scapegoat. Just when one thinks it has been eliminated, it reemerges.
Ms. Phillips defense of Israel is eloquent. And she strongly criticizes Progressive Jews, who not only acquiesce to antisemitism, but contribute to it.
Melanie Phillips has written a well-scripted and thought-provoking novel on the education and awakening of a fashionably liberal (Progresive) totally secular British Jew, a self-absorbed fellow totally ignorant of Jewish history, or that of his own family.
By the novel's end, he concludes that "Jewish survival" has two components: the religious belief in adhering to a Divine Covenant (NOT "Chosen People," a complete mistranslation and misunderstanding of a Hebrew idiom.). And a secular, that antisemitism is, indeed, "the eternal hatred."
Jews are singled out for hatred just for bring Jews, an easy scapegoat. Just when one thinks it has been eliminated, it reemerges.
Ms. Phillips defense of Israel is eloquent. And she strongly criticizes Progressive Jews, who not only acquiesce to antisemitism, but contribute to it.
December 11, 2022
I was going to give this four stars but the ending was, to my mind, unsatisfying. The subject matter and premise about an ancient Jewish manuscript and the dark side of England’s medieval antisemitism was great. The insights into British Jewish guilt and the latent antisemitism that still exists was also great. The author understands British Jewish life really well. But the plot was somewhat contrived, she tried to wedge too many concepts into one book, and the characters were mostly unbelievable. A more subtle series of books to thematise the same points would have been better. But I mostly enjoyed it, and at some points was keen to turn the page. The ending however was unsatisfying. I think that’s what she intended but I’m not sure it worked.
September 4, 2019
I love the way Melanie built the characters in this story and interwove their lives to a suspenseful climax. I would love a sequel of Russell and Rosa moving to Israel. Excellent use of factual historical and current events intermingled to tell a story that could be true. Loved it!
August 20, 2020
A compelling read and emotionally nuanced
Expertly researched but with the can’t put it down pace of a classic thriller. Perceptive, often wryly humorous, with a true reporter’s ear for the heartbreaks and hypocrisies of our time and times of generations past.
Expertly researched but with the can’t put it down pace of a classic thriller. Perceptive, often wryly humorous, with a true reporter’s ear for the heartbreaks and hypocrisies of our time and times of generations past.
October 13, 2018
What happens when you have to face the truth? Outstanding!
September 5, 2019
Excellent, excellent book! You won’t be disappointed. Keep an Open Mind!
July 27, 2020
Excellent book
Thoughtful well written book.
This book explored the persecution of the Jewish people and the main character’s identity as being a Jew.
Thoughtful well written book.
This book explored the persecution of the Jewish people and the main character’s identity as being a Jew.
June 21, 2019
A great book.
A great essay on the decline of the West. Everyone who cares about the future for themselves, their children and grandchildren should read it.
A great essay on the decline of the West. Everyone who cares about the future for themselves, their children and grandchildren should read it.
January 10, 2020
They say a great work of fiction must reflect reality. This is the case for The Legacy. What a beautiful work of literature this is. All of the characters were relatable. We all know people like the characters in the book. I am American and Israeli and my husband is Israel, British and American. This book told me who I am as a Jew and how I move in this world in the diaspora or in Israel.
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