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Letters to Camondo |
This sensitive author reveals the history of Moise de Camondo, a wealthy Jewish art collector, and his descendants with links to de Waal's own Ephrussi family. He does this through imaginary personal letters to the dead Camondo who was originally from Constantinople. He became part of Parisian high society, embracing its culture and freedom only to have his descendants murdered in concentration camps in WWII. The letters are reflections on family, history, collections and the desire to belong.
(Christine Miller - bwl 101 Summer 2021) |
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The Hare with Amber Eyes |
Edmund De Waal's history of his close relatives, the wealthy Ephrussi
family (and other similar Jewish families of the belle epoque high society),
was the first book to give me a graspable understanding of the anti-
semetism that became a horrific blot on modern history. Read this book
not only because it enthralls from start to finish, but because it will dazzle
and inform you. (and see bwl 59 and 61).
(Sharron Calkins - bwl 101 Summer 2021) |
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The Hare with Amber Eyes: A hidden Inheritance |
Inheriting 264 netsuke from his Great-Uncle is the catalyst for De Waal's quest to uncover their story. A fascinating account of the ascendancy of his Jewish family from the grand salons of Paris to the high society of Vienna. The Ephrussi's wealth and lifestyle are unparalleled but almost all is lost as the Nazis march relentlessly on Europe. De Waal's eloquent and modest style avoids sentimentality but one still feels the emotion as he uncovers his remarkable ancestry.
(Rebecca Howell - bwl 61 Summer 2011) |
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The Hare with Amber Eyes: A Hidden Inheritance |
Edmund de Waal a potter and Professor of Ceramics has written a lovely memoir of the Ephrussi family originally from Odessa who achieved great wealth in the grain business and established themselves in Vienna and Paris. De Waal has interwoven through this narrative the story of a collection of Netsuke, Japanese wood and ivory carvings, gathered by Charles Ephrussi in Paris. The second world war and Nazi savagery smashed up this world; told with moving eloquence by this gifted writer.
(David Graham - bwl 59 Winter 2011) |
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