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Hadley Freeman House Of Glass-The Story and secrets of a twentieth-century Jewish family
A writer investigates her family’s secret history, uncovering a story that spans a century, two World Wars, and three generations.
Hadley Freeman knew her grandmother Sara lived in France just as Hitler started to gain power, but rarely did anyone in her family talk about it. Long after her grandmother’s death, she found a shoebox tucked in the closet containing photographs of her grandmother with a mysterious stranger, a cryptic telegram from the Red Cross, and a drawing signed by Picasso.
This discovery sent Freeman on a decade-long quest to uncover the significance of these keepsakes, taking her from Picasso’s archives in Paris to a secret room in a farmhouse in Auvergne to Long Island to Auschwitz. Freeman pieces together the puzzle of her family’s past, discovering more about the lives of her grandmother and her three brothers, Jacques, Henri, and Alex. Their stories sometimes typical, sometimes astonishing—reveal the broad range of experiences of Eastern European Jews during Holocaust.
This thrilling family saga is filled with extraordinary twists, vivid characters, and famous cameos, illuminating the Jewish and immigrant experience in the World War II era. Addressing themes of assimilation, identity, and home, this powerful story about the past echoes issues that remain relevant today.
Hadley Freeman knew her grandmother Sara lived in France just as Hitler started to gain power, but rarely did anyone in her family talk about it. Long after her grandmother’s death, she found a shoebox tucked in the closet containing photographs of her grandmother with a mysterious stranger, a cryptic telegram from the Red Cross, and a drawing signed by Picasso.
This discovery sent Freeman on a decade-long quest to uncover the significance of these keepsakes, taking her from Picasso’s archives in Paris to a secret room in a farmhouse in Auvergne to Long Island to Auschwitz. Freeman pieces together the puzzle of her family’s past, discovering more about the lives of her grandmother and her three brothers, Jacques, Henri, and Alex. Their stories sometimes typical, sometimes astonishing—reveal the broad range of experiences of Eastern European Jews during Holocaust.
This thrilling family saga is filled with extraordinary twists, vivid characters, and famous cameos, illuminating the Jewish and immigrant experience in the World War II era. Addressing themes of assimilation, identity, and home, this powerful story about the past echoes issues that remain relevant today.
272 pages, Hardcover
First published March 5, 2020
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6588 people want to read
About the author
Hadley Freeman
9 books200 followersHadley Freeman (born 1978) is a columnist and writer for The Guardian, who also contributes to the UK version of Vogue. She was born in New York to Jewish parents, and attended Oxford University. Her first book, The Meaning of Sunglasses, was published in 2008.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 435 reviews
July 24, 2021
I know Hadley Freeman from her writing for the Guardian and read her column regularly, so when I found out that she has written a book on the story and secrets of a 20th-century Jewish family I got a copy as soon as one became available in my local library.
It wouldn't be an overstatement to say that the book has impacted me no end. I just loved how Freeman treated the subject of writing about her family in a way that's relatable, meticulously researched, lively and without glossing over any embarrassing details.
But first things first. Freeman comes from a family of Polish Jews hailing from Chrzanow in what was then the Austro-Hungarian empire. It doesn't take much to figure out that the tumultuous events of the 20th century would have dealt this family a bitter blow. Indeed, as the book starts, we become acquainted with several members of this family whom 5-year-old Hadley meets for the first time on a trip from the USA to France in 1983. Little Hadley finds it hard to make sense of the family dynamics; when her grandmother Sara -who has also flown from the US to see her brothers- turns up in the room, instead of being happy to see her family, she bursts into tears. We get some extremely lively protraits of the family members: Henri, the eldest of the family, a tall and, at 83 years of age, still 'strikingly handsome' man; his wife Sonia, a 'firecracker'. Alex Maguy, a small, bald man, but 'tough like a bullet'; Alex and Mania Ornstein, the 'frailest' but also, in many ways, the 'easiest-going' of the group. One is drawn into this disorderly group even though the sheer number of characters causes some confusion... one supposes that the reader's confusion mirrors that of little Hadley when she met all those new family members.
Then, at the end of the week, the Freeman family flies back to the US and soon after, 'slowly, inexorably', everyone Hadley met in France dies. The book is the story of these people, Freeman's great-uncles and aunts, and of her grandmother Sara, whom the author knew better than the others, yet didn't know well enough, at least not until later, after her death, when the author was able to reconstruct her story, painfully and slowly.
When Freeman's interest in her family story is excited, hardly anybody is still alive, however, a memoir by Alex Maguy comes into her possession. Thus starts an amazing journey of discovery involving trips to Poland, to various concentration camps where members of her family had been held, interviews with people who knew or might have known members of her family, and an enormous amount of research that allowed Freeman not only to piece together the history of the family from Chrzanow to Paris and (for some) to their deaths in Auschwitz but also to reconstruct in an extremely convincing way the characters and relationships of these family members. This book is a veritable tour de force judging from the amount of work that made it possible.
The story starts with Chaya and Reuben Glahs, two poor Jews from Chrzanow, who got married in 1898 and had four children: Jehuda, Jacob, Sender and Sala. How these children became Henri, Jacques, Alex and Sara, and how they fared during and after the war is the subject of this book. In the process some became rich and amazingly successful; one perished in the camps; yet another became deeply unhappy; whatever their subsequent development, they were all brutally stamped by the rise of anti-Semitism both in Poland and in France.
But this book is not just a memoir or a biography; it is also a meditation and reflection on anti-Semitism in the 20th century, its causes and manifestations, and also on its survivals in the present. Freeman's journalistic background and her penchant for seeking out the truth is present everywhere in the book. From the historical motifs she brings into play and her comments on the complexities of life in Vichy France to the perceptiveness and honesty which which she responded to her family story, all testify to an extremely strong determination to uncover the truth and construct an authenitc portrait of the Glasses.
I heartily recommend this book to anyone with an interest in World War II and especially the history of the Jews. In fact, I found the book so good that I've now ordered the hard copy as it is a book I want to keep and revisit.
It wouldn't be an overstatement to say that the book has impacted me no end. I just loved how Freeman treated the subject of writing about her family in a way that's relatable, meticulously researched, lively and without glossing over any embarrassing details.
But first things first. Freeman comes from a family of Polish Jews hailing from Chrzanow in what was then the Austro-Hungarian empire. It doesn't take much to figure out that the tumultuous events of the 20th century would have dealt this family a bitter blow. Indeed, as the book starts, we become acquainted with several members of this family whom 5-year-old Hadley meets for the first time on a trip from the USA to France in 1983. Little Hadley finds it hard to make sense of the family dynamics; when her grandmother Sara -who has also flown from the US to see her brothers- turns up in the room, instead of being happy to see her family, she bursts into tears. We get some extremely lively protraits of the family members: Henri, the eldest of the family, a tall and, at 83 years of age, still 'strikingly handsome' man; his wife Sonia, a 'firecracker'. Alex Maguy, a small, bald man, but 'tough like a bullet'; Alex and Mania Ornstein, the 'frailest' but also, in many ways, the 'easiest-going' of the group. One is drawn into this disorderly group even though the sheer number of characters causes some confusion... one supposes that the reader's confusion mirrors that of little Hadley when she met all those new family members.
Then, at the end of the week, the Freeman family flies back to the US and soon after, 'slowly, inexorably', everyone Hadley met in France dies. The book is the story of these people, Freeman's great-uncles and aunts, and of her grandmother Sara, whom the author knew better than the others, yet didn't know well enough, at least not until later, after her death, when the author was able to reconstruct her story, painfully and slowly.
When Freeman's interest in her family story is excited, hardly anybody is still alive, however, a memoir by Alex Maguy comes into her possession. Thus starts an amazing journey of discovery involving trips to Poland, to various concentration camps where members of her family had been held, interviews with people who knew or might have known members of her family, and an enormous amount of research that allowed Freeman not only to piece together the history of the family from Chrzanow to Paris and (for some) to their deaths in Auschwitz but also to reconstruct in an extremely convincing way the characters and relationships of these family members. This book is a veritable tour de force judging from the amount of work that made it possible.
The story starts with Chaya and Reuben Glahs, two poor Jews from Chrzanow, who got married in 1898 and had four children: Jehuda, Jacob, Sender and Sala. How these children became Henri, Jacques, Alex and Sara, and how they fared during and after the war is the subject of this book. In the process some became rich and amazingly successful; one perished in the camps; yet another became deeply unhappy; whatever their subsequent development, they were all brutally stamped by the rise of anti-Semitism both in Poland and in France.
But this book is not just a memoir or a biography; it is also a meditation and reflection on anti-Semitism in the 20th century, its causes and manifestations, and also on its survivals in the present. Freeman's journalistic background and her penchant for seeking out the truth is present everywhere in the book. From the historical motifs she brings into play and her comments on the complexities of life in Vichy France to the perceptiveness and honesty which which she responded to her family story, all testify to an extremely strong determination to uncover the truth and construct an authenitc portrait of the Glasses.
I heartily recommend this book to anyone with an interest in World War II and especially the history of the Jews. In fact, I found the book so good that I've now ordered the hard copy as it is a book I want to keep and revisit.
June 3, 2020
What an amazing story. The author takes us along as she researches her family history.
A beautifully written personal history that is intriguing, extremely well researched and an entertaining read. So glad I ordered a hard copy of this one as it has numerous photos places throughout the book that really added to the enjoyment of the read. It's certainly one to place on my real life book shelf.
I love family history stories and can identify with the author about the intrigue and excitement of discovering family secrets and pasts while researching our ancestors to know more about who they were and the lives they led. While most of our ancestors led ordinary and uneventful lives there are many of those who have held secrets that have suprised us.
After her grandmother died, Hadley Freeman travelled to her apartment to try and make sense of a woman she’d never really known. Sala Glass was a European expat in America – defiantly clinging to her French influences, famously reserved, fashionable to the end – yet to Hadley much of her life remained a mystery. Sala’s experience of surviving one of the most tumultuous periods in modern history was never spoken about.
When Hadley found a shoebox filled with her grandmother’s treasured belongings, it started a decade-long quest to find out their haunting significance and to dig deep into the extraordinary lives of Sala and her three brothers. The search takes Hadley from Picasso’s archives in Paris to a secret room in a farmhouse in Auvergne to Long Island and to Auschwitz.
I was in awe of Sala and her story and the hand she was dealt and while readers might not sympathise with her and especially if you have read other holocaust family stories you may feel she should have been "grateful" but I really felt for her, as she lost what her hopes and dreams and the closeness of her family and that even having to feel" grateful" becomes a burden in itself. I am always facinated to read how war survivors who have suffered so many injustices and hardships manage to adapt and make a new life for themselves in foreign countries.
I can imagine how exciting researching and writing this book must have been for the auhtor and turing up new information, travelling to locations and walking in her ancestors footsteps, discovering names and connections must have been such a rewarding experience and quite an achievement.
I really enjoyed the read and delighted to place this one on my favourites shelf.
Readers who enjoy family history stories/histories such as Mosaic: A Chronicle of Five Generations
may well enjoy this book too.
A beautifully written personal history that is intriguing, extremely well researched and an entertaining read. So glad I ordered a hard copy of this one as it has numerous photos places throughout the book that really added to the enjoyment of the read. It's certainly one to place on my real life book shelf.
I love family history stories and can identify with the author about the intrigue and excitement of discovering family secrets and pasts while researching our ancestors to know more about who they were and the lives they led. While most of our ancestors led ordinary and uneventful lives there are many of those who have held secrets that have suprised us.
After her grandmother died, Hadley Freeman travelled to her apartment to try and make sense of a woman she’d never really known. Sala Glass was a European expat in America – defiantly clinging to her French influences, famously reserved, fashionable to the end – yet to Hadley much of her life remained a mystery. Sala’s experience of surviving one of the most tumultuous periods in modern history was never spoken about.
When Hadley found a shoebox filled with her grandmother’s treasured belongings, it started a decade-long quest to find out their haunting significance and to dig deep into the extraordinary lives of Sala and her three brothers. The search takes Hadley from Picasso’s archives in Paris to a secret room in a farmhouse in Auvergne to Long Island and to Auschwitz.
I was in awe of Sala and her story and the hand she was dealt and while readers might not sympathise with her and especially if you have read other holocaust family stories you may feel she should have been "grateful" but I really felt for her, as she lost what her hopes and dreams and the closeness of her family and that even having to feel" grateful" becomes a burden in itself. I am always facinated to read how war survivors who have suffered so many injustices and hardships manage to adapt and make a new life for themselves in foreign countries.
I can imagine how exciting researching and writing this book must have been for the auhtor and turing up new information, travelling to locations and walking in her ancestors footsteps, discovering names and connections must have been such a rewarding experience and quite an achievement.
I really enjoyed the read and delighted to place this one on my favourites shelf.
Readers who enjoy family history stories/histories such as Mosaic: A Chronicle of Five Generations
may well enjoy this book too.
May 31, 2020
Once there lived four children in Chrzanow, a small town in of the Austro-Hungarian empire not far from Kraków. The four Glahs siblings headed west following the pogroms against Jews in eastern Europe, changed their names and became Parisians. Jehuda Henoch became Jules Henri Glass, married a woman with roots from his homeland, invented the Omniphot microfilming machine and became a successful businessman. Jakob became Jacques, and when the Germans approached Paris, he joined a Foreign Legion-associated regiment. Sender, became Alex Maguy, a successful couturier and later a very successful gallery owner. Sala became Sara, married an American, and left for the US; thus, avoiding the horrors of the Holocaust.
Freeman, the granddaughter of Sara, knew very little about her grandmother and her great-uncles. Once she discovered a shoe-box filled with pictures and mementos in her long-dead grandmother’s closet, along with a drawing signed by Picasso; her journalist curiosity was engaged at last. What she discovered through interviews with her living relatives, travel to several countries, and researching innumerable records is fascinating. And like many who have done genealogical research, she discovered that her family’s history paralleled history itself. How Jewish immigrants in France were first accepted and then step-by-step rejected until they were being forcibly sent to Nazi labor camps. Who were collaborators and who worked for the Resistance?
Freeman asks “How much of one’s ancestral identity must one give up to live in the modern world?” This is a question more pertinent than ever as immigrants face nativism and racism in their adopted homelands. Highly recommend.
Freeman, the granddaughter of Sara, knew very little about her grandmother and her great-uncles. Once she discovered a shoe-box filled with pictures and mementos in her long-dead grandmother’s closet, along with a drawing signed by Picasso; her journalist curiosity was engaged at last. What she discovered through interviews with her living relatives, travel to several countries, and researching innumerable records is fascinating. And like many who have done genealogical research, she discovered that her family’s history paralleled history itself. How Jewish immigrants in France were first accepted and then step-by-step rejected until they were being forcibly sent to Nazi labor camps. Who were collaborators and who worked for the Resistance?
Freeman asks “How much of one’s ancestral identity must one give up to live in the modern world?” This is a question more pertinent than ever as immigrants face nativism and racism in their adopted homelands. Highly recommend.
April 13, 2020
We’ve had Holocaust memoirs since 1945, and they’ve gone from being written primarily by survivors, passing through the years to being written by children of survivors, then to grandchildren of survivors. If “1st Generation” wrote to both alert the world about their experiences and to provide warnings of what could come, then I think “2nd Generation” wrote to try to understand their parents and what oftentimes made them act the way they did as parents. “3rd Gen” seem to want to understand those who came before. As time passes, there are fewer conversations with survivors and witnesses and more use of archival material like letters and pictures to get info. And so it is with the excellent book by writer Hadley Freeman, who looks at her paternal grandmother and her siblings in the new book, “House of Glass: The Story and Secrets of a Twentieth-Century Jewish Family”.
Freeman’s grandmother’s family spanned the entire 20th century. The oldest member of that generation of the Glas family was born in 1901 and the last one died in 1999. Born in a town not far from Osweisim, Poland, (which later became the site of Auschwitz-Birkenau), the family was poor, but the three sons and one daughter were definitely looking to improve their lot in life. After WW 1, they moved from Poland to Paris, where they settled in one of the poorer areas of the city. They changed their names from Jewish first names to French ones. Their last name went from “Glas” to “Glass” and the brothers prospered, albeit to different degrees. One became a noted couturier and art dealer and another brother invented and marketed an early copy machine. But, they were still Polish Jews living in France and were not given the same protections provided French Jews by the French government.
As the 1920’s evolved into the 1930’s and 1940’s, the threat against European Jews became life threatening. The family’s daughter, Sala, was sent to the United States as the wife of a New Yorker. Safe in the US, but caught in a disappointing marriage, Sala became the mother of two sons, one of whom was Hadley Freeman’s father. She always missed Paris and her family.
Much of Hadley Freeman’s book is about the far past - the Glass family in Poland and Paris - and some is in the more recent past. She is a marvelous writer and she manages not to confuse the reader with names and relationships. It’s one of the best family histories I’ve read and I can highly recommend it.
Freeman’s grandmother’s family spanned the entire 20th century. The oldest member of that generation of the Glas family was born in 1901 and the last one died in 1999. Born in a town not far from Osweisim, Poland, (which later became the site of Auschwitz-Birkenau), the family was poor, but the three sons and one daughter were definitely looking to improve their lot in life. After WW 1, they moved from Poland to Paris, where they settled in one of the poorer areas of the city. They changed their names from Jewish first names to French ones. Their last name went from “Glas” to “Glass” and the brothers prospered, albeit to different degrees. One became a noted couturier and art dealer and another brother invented and marketed an early copy machine. But, they were still Polish Jews living in France and were not given the same protections provided French Jews by the French government.
As the 1920’s evolved into the 1930’s and 1940’s, the threat against European Jews became life threatening. The family’s daughter, Sala, was sent to the United States as the wife of a New Yorker. Safe in the US, but caught in a disappointing marriage, Sala became the mother of two sons, one of whom was Hadley Freeman’s father. She always missed Paris and her family.
Much of Hadley Freeman’s book is about the far past - the Glass family in Poland and Paris - and some is in the more recent past. She is a marvelous writer and she manages not to confuse the reader with names and relationships. It’s one of the best family histories I’ve read and I can highly recommend it.
October 22, 2021
****3.5 Stars****
March 24, 2020
I adore books that involve searching out family history and putting family puzzles together, piece by piece. It's an extraordinary read about a Polish family who fled to France and what they did to survive the ravages of WWII. THe author does have a tendency to pontificate a bit, but the writing is solid and the history is far reaching. I loved all of the family photographs included. Thanks to Edelweiss and the publisher for the complimentary copy in exchange for my review.
May 6, 2020
Fantastic true story. Well written, never boring or repetitive.
March 27, 2020
I absolutely swallowed this book up. I even went back and read certain chapters because I was so moved by them. For me, it gave a really unique, readable insight into the loss and persecution Jews have faced in the 20th century. It is utterly heartbreaking and Freeman summarises it all from a personal perspective that allows to grasp how bad things were.
I couldn’t believe the beginning of the story compared to the end... how much things changed for so many in that lifetime. The stories of fashion and art are wonderful to read but it’s the themes of family and survival that make this story so compelling. I adored it.
I couldn’t believe the beginning of the story compared to the end... how much things changed for so many in that lifetime. The stories of fashion and art are wonderful to read but it’s the themes of family and survival that make this story so compelling. I adored it.
July 22, 2020
I’ve never been a big fan of Hadley Freeman’s Guardian column and I told myself I must stop reading so many books about the Second World War and the Holocaust, so I’m not sure how I ended up reading this book. However, I’m glad I did because it’s an entertaining and well researched read. It also proves that, however many similar stories come out of the Jewish experience, each one is still unique.
In this case, it’s the experiences of the Glass family in France that is most interesting, especially her great uncle Alex’s involvement in haute couture and his survival against the odds. Set against that is her grandmother’s reluctant escape to America and subsequent unhappy life and marriage.
Hadley Freeman also doesn’t shy away from drawing parallels by considering the recent resurgence of anti-semitism in Europe and the USA, although she is careful not to labour the point.
In this case, it’s the experiences of the Glass family in France that is most interesting, especially her great uncle Alex’s involvement in haute couture and his survival against the odds. Set against that is her grandmother’s reluctant escape to America and subsequent unhappy life and marriage.
Hadley Freeman also doesn’t shy away from drawing parallels by considering the recent resurgence of anti-semitism in Europe and the USA, although she is careful not to labour the point.
October 4, 2020
If you like family histories I can surely recommend this one. A captivating and fascinating story, following the four siblings of a Jewish family that fled Poland after the First World War to Paris. As they all try to make a living and integrate in France, the Nazis come to power in Germany and everything their lives are upended once again. The personal histories of these great-aunts and -uncles of the authors will stay with me for a long time. I was a little bit less impressed by the historical and literary qualities, hence one star less...
May 8, 2020
I have tremendous respect for author Hadley Freeman. It’s clear she spent years researching her family history as well as an in depth study of World History. My complaint is that this book sometimes focused on inconsequential material and felt unnecessarily shallow. While there was a really fascinating story here, it was often overshadowed by Freeman’s own agenda. MoreMehThanYeah #BorrowNotBuy
April 25, 2020
This book will stay with me for so many reasons. I gobbled up the writing and found the stories of each Glass sibling fascinating. There were so many interesting and harrowing turns and much insightful commentary - on the place of women in 1930s society and the sense of betrayal the family felt from their chosen home of France. Post war the world of Parisian art and fashion that Freeman writes about had me dreaming of the film Midnight in Paris.
April 26, 2020
A thoroughly involving history of the writer's family based on material left by her paternal grandmother and written with the help of other family members and a lot of research. A fascinating family and history.
December 16, 2023
My fiancée bought this book for my birthday.
I was initially sceptical that a family biography could be a good read, but Hadley Freeman's fantastic prose quickly drew me in. Through her connection to her grandparents, Hadley provides a biography that starts in Poland in the 19th Century and tells a Jewish story of emigration to France and America through the horrors of the 1930s and 40s.
The beauty of the writing is how Ms Freeman's relatives, the great aunt's and uncles, are understood and described with great insight. The family arguments, the lack of forgiveness, the sacrifices made and the losses so keenly felt during the Nazi occupation of France.
The "big picture" of Jews in 20th century Europe - the trains, the home invasions, the violence, the camps. These we learn about throughout our lives. But Hadley's family history weaves the details often sidelined; entrepreneurs whose successful business is stolen, couples hiding in plain sight, living as strangers in small American towns.
There are also some interesting ideas that Ms Freeman considers, such as the unrecognised sacrifice Jewish women made, and the assimilation if Jews into modern society. The nature of the book is such that it doesn't drag towards the end line many non fiction reads; we travel through 100 years of family history built through word of mouth, photos and detailed historical research, including journeys made by Hadley to the places where it happened.
It's certainly always a treat to read an account of Jewish history that has both a personal and narrative thread.
I was initially sceptical that a family biography could be a good read, but Hadley Freeman's fantastic prose quickly drew me in. Through her connection to her grandparents, Hadley provides a biography that starts in Poland in the 19th Century and tells a Jewish story of emigration to France and America through the horrors of the 1930s and 40s.
The beauty of the writing is how Ms Freeman's relatives, the great aunt's and uncles, are understood and described with great insight. The family arguments, the lack of forgiveness, the sacrifices made and the losses so keenly felt during the Nazi occupation of France.
The "big picture" of Jews in 20th century Europe - the trains, the home invasions, the violence, the camps. These we learn about throughout our lives. But Hadley's family history weaves the details often sidelined; entrepreneurs whose successful business is stolen, couples hiding in plain sight, living as strangers in small American towns.
There are also some interesting ideas that Ms Freeman considers, such as the unrecognised sacrifice Jewish women made, and the assimilation if Jews into modern society. The nature of the book is such that it doesn't drag towards the end line many non fiction reads; we travel through 100 years of family history built through word of mouth, photos and detailed historical research, including journeys made by Hadley to the places where it happened.
It's certainly always a treat to read an account of Jewish history that has both a personal and narrative thread.
March 28, 2020
Best line, a quote from her uncle Alex’s memoirs, “Take the time to look at a beautiful painting. Don’t be afraid, just enter the painting, let it embrace you, like music. Life is worth the trouble of fighting death.” Pg. 293 House of Glass.
It took me a while to embrace the real life characters in this book. But once I did, I was hooked and rapidly read the last 2/3 of the book. You will not be disappointed!
It took me a while to embrace the real life characters in this book. But once I did, I was hooked and rapidly read the last 2/3 of the book. You will not be disappointed!
December 24, 2020
Did not really like this book. Gave it 4 stars because it is quite well written and tells the story of an interesting family. My problem with the book is that I didn’t like the fact that the author kept pushing her views on politics, and modern day Judaism etc. Its supposed to be a memoir of her family and not of her prejudices. Frankly I didn’t like her. Also it was a bit superficial with a number of historical inaccuracies, including spellings. Maybe I should go down to three stars.
May 17, 2020
An incredible book - sensitive, intricately researched and so compelling. The story of the four Jewish Glass siblings (the author’s grandmother and her three brothers) spanning from 1901-1999 is one I think we should all read. So important and so well told.
May 28, 2023
Loved this book! Another story about a family who survived the Holocaust. This book explored the painful fate of the sister who came to the US to get married vs her brothers who remained in France. I was hooked on page 1, when the author described finding a shoebox filled with papers in the back of her grandmother's closet.
Thanks Katherine for the recommendation!
Thanks Katherine for the recommendation!
December 19, 2021
What a beautiful journey I went on in this book ❤️
Hadley Freeman’s House of Glass charts the very personal story of her family’s journey from twentieth century Europe to the present day. The story begins in Poland in the early twentieth century where the Glass family live in a small shtetl in Czarnow where the aftermath of the First World War causes division in the community and a rise in nationalism and pogroms that force the family into Paris to settle in the thriving Jewish community in the 1930s. While the Glass family think their struggles are over the shadow of World War II looms on the horizon.
I loved this book so much, it provides an informative but also a very intimate look at the Glass family dynamic, they all have such distinct personalities that really come through on the page and it shows in the different paths they all follow, some choose to assimilate and some do not, some resist the oppression of the Vichy government and others do not, some become great entrepreneurs opening fashion houses and associating with Christian Dior and Picasso and others run small businesses or emigrate to America to seek a safer life.
At times this book reads almost like a thriller as it charts stories from within the resistance movement but it also doesn’t shrink away from the very human cost of the Holocaust, of the way it fractured families and caused a trauma that still lasts to this day. This book is fantastically researched and personal and I couldn’t recommend it more ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Hadley Freeman’s House of Glass charts the very personal story of her family’s journey from twentieth century Europe to the present day. The story begins in Poland in the early twentieth century where the Glass family live in a small shtetl in Czarnow where the aftermath of the First World War causes division in the community and a rise in nationalism and pogroms that force the family into Paris to settle in the thriving Jewish community in the 1930s. While the Glass family think their struggles are over the shadow of World War II looms on the horizon.
I loved this book so much, it provides an informative but also a very intimate look at the Glass family dynamic, they all have such distinct personalities that really come through on the page and it shows in the different paths they all follow, some choose to assimilate and some do not, some resist the oppression of the Vichy government and others do not, some become great entrepreneurs opening fashion houses and associating with Christian Dior and Picasso and others run small businesses or emigrate to America to seek a safer life.
At times this book reads almost like a thriller as it charts stories from within the resistance movement but it also doesn’t shrink away from the very human cost of the Holocaust, of the way it fractured families and caused a trauma that still lasts to this day. This book is fantastically researched and personal and I couldn’t recommend it more ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
October 27, 2021
Wow, I cannot recommend this book highly enough.
Not only does this amazing text cover the history of one Jewish family and their experience throughout the whole 20th century (both world wars and the Holocaust included), it expertly frames their experience within the wider political and social backgrounds of the time.
The writing here is amazing, a skilful blend of fact and character building. Each family member is covered from their birth through to death, detailing each individual's trajectory through life.
The story is at times heart-breaking, at times inspiring.
The biggest thing I came away with from this though, was the shocking amount of anti-Semitism that has always been lurking around since the turn of the 20th century, throughout Europe and the US. Jews have never been accepted; at turns they are branded as "dirty immigrants" supposedly intent on destabilising the political and economic systems within which they live, then if they make something of themselves, they are "money-grabbing", "greedy" or "covetous" and seemingly need to be taken down a peg or two. The horrific accounts of anti-Semitism are well covered in this text, including the practice of denouncement- neighbours and (former) friends telling enemy forces where their Jewish acquaintances are living/hiding out/trying to protect their lives, in order to get them sent to detention and concentration camps.
Anti-Semitism haunts me to the core and it made for horrifying reading how it was and still is prevalent in society.
This should be required reading to highlight both the depravity of racist humans, and the resilience of those they target.
Not only does this amazing text cover the history of one Jewish family and their experience throughout the whole 20th century (both world wars and the Holocaust included), it expertly frames their experience within the wider political and social backgrounds of the time.
The writing here is amazing, a skilful blend of fact and character building. Each family member is covered from their birth through to death, detailing each individual's trajectory through life.
The story is at times heart-breaking, at times inspiring.
The biggest thing I came away with from this though, was the shocking amount of anti-Semitism that has always been lurking around since the turn of the 20th century, throughout Europe and the US. Jews have never been accepted; at turns they are branded as "dirty immigrants" supposedly intent on destabilising the political and economic systems within which they live, then if they make something of themselves, they are "money-grabbing", "greedy" or "covetous" and seemingly need to be taken down a peg or two. The horrific accounts of anti-Semitism are well covered in this text, including the practice of denouncement- neighbours and (former) friends telling enemy forces where their Jewish acquaintances are living/hiding out/trying to protect their lives, in order to get them sent to detention and concentration camps.
Anti-Semitism haunts me to the core and it made for horrifying reading how it was and still is prevalent in society.
This should be required reading to highlight both the depravity of racist humans, and the resilience of those they target.
April 5, 2021
When I read a book like this, I’m struck by what a travesty it would be were this book never written and these stories never told.
Hadley Freeman, who you might know best for her work as a journalist with the Guardian, chronicles the life and times of her grandmother Sala Glass and Sala’s brothers, Henri, Jacques and Alex Glass.
She does this skilfully, compassionately and compellingly, from their birth and childhood in Poland, to their lives (and deaths) in France and the US, after fleeing the pogroms in Poland and their mixed fortunes following the terrible persecution of Jewish people in Nazi-occupied Europe.
Painstakingly researched and lovingly composed, connecting past to present and future, this books serves as a salutary reminder of what resilience and dignity is in the face of brutal persecution and genocide.
I read this over the course of a few weeks in hard copy and the photographs scattered through the book vividly personalises and brings their stories to life. Alex’s story in particular really struck a chord (probably helped by the fact that Freeman had Alex’s own memoir to fill in some of the blanks of his extraordinary life). Alex’s success in fashion and art against all the odds and the fact that it has sustained through the generations was inspiring.
I loved this book; it’s one to get lost in. 5/5 ⭐️
Hadley Freeman, who you might know best for her work as a journalist with the Guardian, chronicles the life and times of her grandmother Sala Glass and Sala’s brothers, Henri, Jacques and Alex Glass.
She does this skilfully, compassionately and compellingly, from their birth and childhood in Poland, to their lives (and deaths) in France and the US, after fleeing the pogroms in Poland and their mixed fortunes following the terrible persecution of Jewish people in Nazi-occupied Europe.
Painstakingly researched and lovingly composed, connecting past to present and future, this books serves as a salutary reminder of what resilience and dignity is in the face of brutal persecution and genocide.
I read this over the course of a few weeks in hard copy and the photographs scattered through the book vividly personalises and brings their stories to life. Alex’s story in particular really struck a chord (probably helped by the fact that Freeman had Alex’s own memoir to fill in some of the blanks of his extraordinary life). Alex’s success in fashion and art against all the odds and the fact that it has sustained through the generations was inspiring.
I loved this book; it’s one to get lost in. 5/5 ⭐️
May 8, 2020
I am normally put off by books that come with glowing endorsements from a panoply of the famous but all the praise with which the book cover is plastered is fully deserved: this is a very impressive book.
Hadley Freeman's family members are fascinating characters and their stories well worth telling but this is more than the usual memoir of a Jewish family moving from the shtetl to worldly success. She manages the difficult feat of locating the narrative within the geographical and chronological contexts in which her relations' lives played out, in a way that neither assumes that the reader knows the background nor over-simplifies for those who might not. Her skill in doing this offers thoughtful insights into their behaviour as we follow these complex, sometimes capricious, personalities as they navigate their way through challenging political, economic and social environments.
The book is underpinned by meticulous research and it is very well written - honest and objective, unsentimental but affectionate. Highly recommended.
Hadley Freeman's family members are fascinating characters and their stories well worth telling but this is more than the usual memoir of a Jewish family moving from the shtetl to worldly success. She manages the difficult feat of locating the narrative within the geographical and chronological contexts in which her relations' lives played out, in a way that neither assumes that the reader knows the background nor over-simplifies for those who might not. Her skill in doing this offers thoughtful insights into their behaviour as we follow these complex, sometimes capricious, personalities as they navigate their way through challenging political, economic and social environments.
The book is underpinned by meticulous research and it is very well written - honest and objective, unsentimental but affectionate. Highly recommended.
April 3, 2020
Absolutely superb - a fascinating view of one family in the 20th Century. A skilful linking of the personal to the global. An amazing tale of resilience and hope -- add in links to Picasso and Christian Dior and this creates a fascinating story.
Cannot recommend it highly enough --- like Tara Westover's Educated this is a memoir which will stand the test of time as it shines a light on universal themes - nationalism - racism - endurance of the human spirit - love - family relationships ----Just don't miss it.
Cannot recommend it highly enough --- like Tara Westover's Educated this is a memoir which will stand the test of time as it shines a light on universal themes - nationalism - racism - endurance of the human spirit - love - family relationships ----Just don't miss it.
July 4, 2020
Recommending “houseofGlass” by @HadleyFreeman ... historically correct memoir of a European Jewish family , deep in poverty and running from the historical horrific xenophobic pogroms of the Russian , Polish and German anti Semitic rhetoric ! An excellent read, one that will question human nature to continually make the same dark rhetoric xenophobic mindset!
Why humans can’t learn from history!
Why humans can’t learn from history!
March 2, 2020
An unbelievably captivating book on holocaust survival, fashion, history, family and secrets.
March 28, 2020
This is an absolutely superb book and I couldn't put it down. It's a deeply personal family memoir, but it's also a timely history of the Jewish experience of the 20th century.
April 24, 2021
Incredible memoir of a family covering the diversity of the Jewish experience over the 20th century. I learned a lot and found it very moving and beautifully written.
September 26, 2021
3.5 rounded up.
Fascinating and educating but overly wordy & detailed in parts for my taste and found it a bit of drag to the end.
Fascinating and educating but overly wordy & detailed in parts for my taste and found it a bit of drag to the end.
February 18, 2022
Such an amazing story. I couldn’t put it down.
January 5, 2021
I enjoyed this very much. It's a personal history of a Jewish family, starting from a point of little original knowledge of the details of the lives of four siblings (Hadley Freeman's grandmother and her brothers) and uncovering their story from the pogroms of Eastern Europe to Paris. While her grandmother escaped (reluctantly) to the U.S., the three brothers stayed in France, and two of them survived the war, one in hiding in Paris throughout and the other having a series of adventures including escaping from a train bound for a concentration camp. As with many Jewish families there are name changes to contend with in researching their history, and many things which were deliberately hidden in the records of Vichy France, which makes this particularly challenging as a quest. One wonders what might have happened had the brother who did not survive seized his chance to go into hiding too: this family seems so resourceful that perhaps he would have come through as well. The story of Alex, who moved in exotic Bohemian circles as a couturier and later as an art dealer, is particularly interesting. Incredibly the grandmother, who never spoke French (Polish and Yiddish only), and insisted on kosher food throughout, also managed to survive the war, hidden first in Paris and then in the south. It is a sad story but also one of survival against the odds, and a riveting read.
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