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House on Endless Waters: A Novel
by Emuna Elon

Published: 2020-01-07
Hardcover : 320 pages
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Extraordinary—a vibrant, page-turning family mystery.” Jennifer Cody Epstein, bestselling author of Wunderland

“A story of love, loss, and yearning. Lyrically phrased and often powerfully visual…this deeply felt tale offers a rewarding meditation on survival.” —Kirkus ...
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Introduction

Extraordinary—a vibrant, page-turning family mystery.” Jennifer Cody Epstein, bestselling author of Wunderland

“A story of love, loss, and yearning. Lyrically phrased and often powerfully visual…this deeply felt tale offers a rewarding meditation on survival.” —Kirkus Reviews, (starred review)

In the tradition of The Invisible Bridge and The History of Love, comes an exquisitely moving novel about a writer who discovers the truth about his mother’s wartime years in Amsterdam, unearthing a shocking family secret that becomes the subject of his magnum opus.

At the behest of his agent, renowned author Yoel Blum reluctantly agrees to visit his birthplace of Amsterdam to promote his books, despite promising his late mother that he would never return to that city. While touring the Jewish Historical Museum with his wife, Yoel stumbles upon footage portraying prewar Dutch Jewry and is astonished to see the youthful face of his beloved mother staring back at him, posing with his father, his older sister...and an infant he doesn’t recognize.

This unsettling discovery launches him into a fervent search for the truth, shining a light on Amsterdam’s dark wartime history—the underground networks that hid Jewish children away from danger and those who betrayed their own for the sake of survival. The deeper into the past Yoel digs to tell the story of his life, the better he understands his mother’s silence, and the more urgent the question that has unconsciously haunted him for a lifetime—Who am I?—becomes.

Part family mystery, part wartime drama, House on Endless Waters is an unforgettable meditation on identity, belonging, and the inextricable nature of past and present.

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THE HOUSE ON ENDLESS WATERS
by Silversolara (see profile) 01/06/20
Never go back to Amsterdam were words Yoel’s mother drilled into him, but she would never tell why. When one of Yoel's books was translated into Dutch, he and his wife needed to go to Amsterdam even though he felt guilty about defying his mother’s wishes. While they were in Amsterdam, Yoel and Bat-Ami visited a Jewish museum, looked at some still films, and saw his mother, his father, his sister, and himself in the films. Yoel wondered why no one ever told him about this part of his life. He had to ask his sister, and he HAD to find out. We follow Yoel as he moves around Amsterdam in hopes of finding anything that will help him discover who he is. His sister did help him with information, but he had to be there and see for himself as he unraveled the mystery of his life and his mother’s life. The writing and story line are absolutely mesmerizing and beautiful as well as heartbreaking. HOUSE ON ENDLESS WATERS is a book that will stay with me because of its haunting beauty and its profound, thought-provoking story line. Historical fiction fans will devour this book and the marvelous research Ms. Elon did with Amsterdam's history and its part in WWII. 5/5 This book was given to me by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

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by Elizabeth P. (see profile) 01/06/20

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