The Fiddle

by Natalie Cumming

A true story, tracing a precious violin across landscapes devastated by war and terror, to safety and restoration in 21st century Britain. Abraham and his family flee the Bolsheviks, from St. Petersburg to Odessa and safety in the UK. Abraham’s skill on the violin earns them food and lodgings, as they struggle through the freezing Russian winter. The violin passes to Rosa, Abraham’s daughter, violinist with a famous German orchestra. Arrested by the Nazis on Kristellnacht 1938 she is sent to Mauthausen Concentration Camp, and then to Auschwitz, where her musical talent sees her forced to join the Women’s Orchestra and saves her life. She spends the last 5 months of the war in Belsen, before testifying at the Nuremberg Trials, exposing the horrors of the Nazi death camps. Rosa’s brother Israel, inherits the violin. A celebrated musician, he joins ENSA during the war, entertaining the troops. Post war, he investigates Nazis trying to escape trial. He forms several popular bands, well-known throughout the '60s & '70s. Finally, the violin comes to his daughter Natalie, who has written her family’s extraordinary story, lest the world should ever forget global events, against which the journey of this beautiful instrument is told.

276 pages, Kindle Edition

Published April 28, 2018

Reviews

[Kathleen · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was written by the step sister of a friend and so that has an impact on my review. If this story were not true, it would be unbelievable. That is the main reason to read the book--to pay tribute to those who were killed in the holocaust and to those who lived to tell their stories. May their memories be a blessing and a constant reminder of the importance of fighting fascism and genocide.

[Don Sullivan · Rating 5 out of 5]

A Harrowing Tale Of Survival

It’s hard to describe this story. Not because the subject is difficult, but for the depravity of men in their treatment of each other. From the Bolsheviks to the Nazis, thus family truly suffered. God bless them. I was moved by the kindness of the strangers who helped this family escape Russia. I was horrified by what Rosa and her peers endured in the concentration camps.

I can only thank the author for collecting these accounts. I am truly sorry her family suffered but feel it is necessary to hear the story that we may never allow this to happen again.

[Diana Vance · Rating 1 out of 5]

Terribly written. At times one sentence would be annoy a time minutes after the previous sentence. But then the next sentence was a time jump of a day with no explanation. There might have been some poor translation but it was an English writer. I wish they had explained more things such as the distance they traveled in the beginning or the ages of the children. Zero character development. Almost no description of characters either (physical or personality). New children were suddenly mentioned with no explanation. So much confusion. 

Incredible story that these people lived but the author didn't do it justice. 

[Sandra · Rating 4 out of 5]

As a book with so much harrowing detail about the treatment of members of the author's family during the early days of the Russian revolution and into World War 2, it was a hard read, but equally i found it all leapt along at such a fast pace, after the initial good slower pace of the early part, that by the third term of the story, I felt it was like a train rushing to complete its journey and get to the sidings. But I did still want to read it.

As story like this from one family's perspective is always going to be a hard read and if it wasnt for the fact it is a true story, it would be unimaginable to believe that so much atrocity could be done by others.

[Gary · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a really good story and had all the elements of a great story except it just ended......Abraham and Rosa's stories were compelling and well told. Israel's story is good but it seems rushed to finish it.. Skips over months and just ends......
That is the worst - it just stops... there is no ending just a stop point..... I kept scrolling ahead to see where the rest of the story went.......

[Danielle Brereton · Rating 5 out of 5]

Incredible. Three separate stories of people within the same family and where life takes them

[Jeremy Hopkins · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good quick read with some powerful descriptive narrative.

[Christina Gore · Rating 5 out of 5]

What an incredible book! Not an easy read but I am pleased that I read this astonishing story after hearing Natalie Cummins talk to us at Much Wenlock and Broseley U3a.