House of Glass

The Story and Secrets of a Twentieth-Century Jewish Family

By: Hadley Freeman

Narrated by: Hadley Freeman

Writer Hadley Freeman investigates her family’s secret history in this “exceptional” (The Washington Post) “masterpiece” (The Daily Telegraph) 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 the Holocaust.

This “frightening, inspiring, and cautionary” (Kirkus Reviews) family saga is filled with extraordinary twists, vivid characters, and famous cameos, illuminating the Jewish and immigrant experience in the World War II era. Reviewers have asked: “is there a better book about being Jewish?” (The Daily Telegraph) Addressing themes of assimilation, identity, and home, House of Glass is “a triumph” (The Bookseller) and a powerful story about the past that echoes issues that remain relevant today.

Superb reading, moving and memorable story

I applaud the author’s decision to read this family memoir herself. While not strongly inflected, her voice and reading seemed particularly suited to the story; and it is of course very meaningful that it is her own family’s history. (I hope she records more stories.)

She has, as author, written a beautiful and moving testament that anyone with an interest in Polish and Eastern European Jews will want to read/listen to. Indeed, this is one of the best personal histories that I have found.

Thank you and best wishes

Narrator

Understandably a deep and candid personal perspective story.
The narrator’s voice is lovely and hypnotising. But her French language pronunciation is terrible. She reads some text in French then repeats it in English. Why does she need to do that if she reads the whole book in English anyway? I’d recommend she avoid the French

A Homecoming for the decidedly French Jew

I loved this book. My love is augmented by a similar family history, albeit by way of Germany to France, family dressmaker, service in the French foreign legion, hiding on a farm near Lyon.

Captivating and Interesting

I could not get enough of this book and the stories of each of the Glass family members. It’s beautiful, heart wrenching and historically interesting. A reminder why the holocaust cannot be forgotten and why dehumanizing people based on race, ethnicity, religion, migrant status must not happen if we are to keep the past from repeating. The amount of research that Hadley put into this book really shows and her having such a close connection to this family is felt on a deep level. The Glass’ felt like they could have easily have been my very own family as you get to know them. Beautiful portrayals. A must read or listen!

Amazing

Loved every second of this book. Great writing and narration. Highly recommend, especially if you love memoirs