My Disappearing Uncle
Europe, War and the Stories of a Scattered Family
Published on 16. March 2023
Book
Hardback
296 pages
978-1-80399-122-1 (ISBN)
Description
'A fascinating book about a remarkable family.' - Edmund de Waal
Memoir, detective work and political history come together in this vivid and moving family biography told through the stories passed down by its undaunted women.
Heard on a toboggan in the Austrian mountains, in the back seat of an overloaded Mini toiling through Europe, on a coal barge in Paris ... here are tales that take us from Hungary, Germany and Italy to France, England and Argentina, and from the young actress in fi n de siecle Vienna to the 16-year-old schoolboy who disappeared for over fifty years. My Disappearing Uncle is a journey of discovery that explores the complicated dance between the present and the past.
'Henderson's narrative ... includes a wide range of memorable personalities as we move into and then beyond the Vienna of Freud, Mahler and Klimt ... Centuries of turbulent, superbly narrated history.' - Jewish Chronicle
Memoir, detective work and political history come together in this vivid and moving family biography told through the stories passed down by its undaunted women.
Heard on a toboggan in the Austrian mountains, in the back seat of an overloaded Mini toiling through Europe, on a coal barge in Paris ... here are tales that take us from Hungary, Germany and Italy to France, England and Argentina, and from the young actress in fi n de siecle Vienna to the 16-year-old schoolboy who disappeared for over fifty years. My Disappearing Uncle is a journey of discovery that explores the complicated dance between the present and the past.
'Henderson's narrative ... includes a wide range of memorable personalities as we move into and then beyond the Vienna of Freud, Mahler and Klimt ... Centuries of turbulent, superbly narrated history.' - Jewish Chronicle
Reviews / Votes
'A compulsive tangle of tales touching not only on lives, loves and the longing to belong, but also the brutality of war and injustice suffered again and yet again in Europe up to the present day.' -- Katya Adler, BBC Europe Editor 'An astonishing book, beautifully written. Echoes of a middle-European Forsyte Saga later colliding with the brutal realities of Nazism, and what came next.' -- John Carr, author of <i>Escape from the Ghetto</i> 'Kathy Henderson has a rare ability to draw us into her immediate family and then reverse the telescope to take in the cultural and political canvas imploding into world wars, Holocaust and diaspora ... Her writing is beautiful and captivating and we are carried along in her unfolding discoveries ...' -- Frankie Armstrong, singer, author and activist 'Kathy has peeled away the layers of her family history to reveal not only a fascinating narrative but the way in which chance encounters enrich our lives.' -- Meriel Schindler, author of <i>The Lost Cafe Schindler</i> 'She fits these tales into a gripping ... historical narrative for her own better understanding of what occurred ... to allow us, her readers, a deeper insight into the complex history of central Europe through the 20th Century, its two world wars and beyond.' -- Diana Quick, actor and writer 'Henderson has that rare quality of being able to draw the reader into her world, offering them a rich and cultural experience along the way.' * <i>The Lady</i> * 'an evocative account of a childhood in a postwar London.' * <i>Who Do You Think You Are?</i> magazine * 'Henderson's book is engaging on several levels ... Her detective work and knowledge of Austria's history are impressive and her family story is a rich intricate tapestry.' * <i>Irish Independent</i> * 'A fascinating book about a remarkable family.' -- Edmund de Waal 'Henderson's narrative ... includes a wide range of memorable personalities as we move into and then beyond the Vienna of Freud, Mahler and Klimt ... Centuries of turbulent, superbly narrated history.' * <i>Jewish Chronicle</i> *More details
Language
English
Place of publication
Stroud
United Kingdom
Product notice
sewn/stitched
Cloth over boards
Illustrations
80 Illustrations
Dimensions
Height: 236 mm
Width: 160 mm
Thickness: 27 mm
Weight
586 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-80399-122-1 (9781803991221)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
E-Book
03/2023
The History Press Ltd
€1.49
Available for download
Person
KATHY HENDERSON is an award-winning children's writer, poet and illustrator with more than 30 published books, winner among other things of the Kurt Maschler Award, the Aesop Prize of the American Folklore Society and shortlisted for the Children's Poetry Prize. With a background in literature, music and oral history she also compiled My Song is My Own, 100 Women's Songs from the British Isles which has become the iconic book on the hidden voices of women. She has written for radio, visited hundreds of schools and libraries and been a Fellow of the Royal Literary Fund.