The Forever Street

by Frederic Morton

Berek, a young penniless Jew of eighteen is struggling to make a home of Turk Place, a desolate street that, in 1873 Vienna, was little more than a Gypsy encampment. But Berek believes fiercely in his own power to forge miracles. Taking the caretaker's daughter as his bride, Berek is confident he can thrive on faith. When a mysterious piece of stone comes into his possession, he and his wife believe their prayers have been answered; the stone may be a holy fragment of Jerusalem's Wailing Wall.
This relic, no larger than a brick, proves to transfigure the couple's lives. They make Turk Place their home and three generations of Turk Place residents share the legacy of the Brick. For six decades, the family perseveres in the face of tumultuous events -- World War I, the shattering of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and the Great Depression. But Hitler's "final solution" forces them to make an impossible flee the Nazis or remain and perish.

Genres: Fiction, Historical Fiction

544 pages, Paperback

First published April 25, 1984

About the author

Frederic Morton (born Fritz Mandelbaum) was a Jewish Austrian writer who emigrated to the United States in 1940. Born Fritz Mandelbaum in Vienna, Morton was raised as the son of a blacksmith who had specialised in forging imperial medals. In the wake of the Anschluss of 1938 his father was arrested but later released again. In 1939 the family fled to Britain, and the following year they migrated to New York. Morton said that back in 1940 his father decided, with a heavy heart, to change their family name to Morton in order to join an anti-Semitic labor union. Frederic Morton first worked as a baker but from 1949 studied literature. In 1951 he visited Austria again for the first time after the war, and in 1962 he returned, this time to Salzburg, to marry his fiancée, Marcia, whom he had met at college. From 1959, Morton worked as a columnist for several American periodicals including The New York Times, Esquire, and Playboy . He died in Vienna ,at the age of ninety, on April 2015

Reviews

[Johan · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have a copy of this book authographed by the author. I got it on the occasion when he visited Vienna and read some pages from this book. I think still, after many years now and many books about the subject, it is one of the best books I read about the social changes that happened in Vienna during the 19th and 20th century, the upcoming nazisism in Central Europe and all the tragic consequences.

[Heidi · Rating 1 out of 5]

I have really enjoyed Frederic Morton's books over the years, but I could not bring myself to put more time into this book and gave up after 343 pages. It just dragged on and the characters were all strange in so many ways. It was really more like South American magical realism than something European. I'll stick with Morton's non-fiction.

[Asha Zarr · Rating 4 out of 5]

Shocking, poignant, Beautiful.

[Ni · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very interesting and nice connections in time forged between the origins of the stone, and 'Black' Mustafa (I guess he would seem 'dark' to the residents of Vienna, even 400 years after the seige, with very nice descriptions of the minarets...), the Prime Minister, and the current life of the city, again seeming to be under seige from dark forces.

Definitely bears another reading next year.