Edith's Story: The True Story of How One Young Girl Survived World War II - Softcover

Velmans, Edith; Velmans, Hester

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0983550565 ISBN 13: 9780983550563

Publisher: van Horton Books, 2014

Synopsis

FOR READERS WHO WERE MOVED BY ANNE FRANK'S DIARY, THE TATTOOIST OF AUSCHWITZ, and THE CHOICE. When Hitler invaded Holland in 1939, Edith van Hessen was a popular Dutch high school student. She also happened to be Jewish. In the same month that Anne Frank's family went into hiding, Edith was sent to live with a courageous Protestant family, took a new name, and survived by posing as a gentile. Ultimately one-third of the hidden Dutch Jews were discovered and murdered; most of Edith's family perished. Velmans's memoir is based on her teenage diaries, wartime letters, and reflections as an adult survivor. In recounting wartime events and the details of her feelings as the war runs its course, Edith's Story ultimately affirms life, love, and extraordinary courage. "The most vivid evocation of the experience of Nazi Occupation that I have ever read." - The Independent (London)

About this title

Review:

Truly moving...leaving one with great hope in humanity. (Julia Neuberger The Times)

Both memoir and meditation, it is moving and wise... neither sanguine nor sentimental about the Holocaust and man's capacity for evil. It shows that a belief in goodness... is the key to living well with such a past. The most vivid evocation of the experience of Nazi Occupation I have ever read. (Linda Holt The Independent)

It's impossible to get through this inspiring and great-hearted volume dry-eyed, or without admiration for people who so bravely persevere through unimaginable hardship and privation. (The Washington Post)

Gives all the pain and pleasure of reading Anne Frank for the first time. (Esther Freud)

It holds you with the same intensity as The Diary of Anne Frank and leaves you heart-broken, illuminated, and amazed at the capacity for courage. (The Guardian)

One of the best and most moving memoirs I have ever read. (Ruth Rendell Sunday Times)

Edith's Story, the memoir of an Anne Frank who lived, reminds us of the old horror all the more effectively bu not being a horror story. Evil and grief, without being scanted, are outshone by sweetness, freshness, and pluck. (Roy Blount Jr.)

A significant Holocaust memoir... A valuable opportunity to see the situation just outside Anne's attic. (Kirkus Reviews)

About the Author:

After the war Edith married, had twin daughters and eventually emigrated to the USA, though she returns frequently to Europe. One of the daughters lives in west London with her husband and children - Edith's grandchildren.

About this edition

• Publisher: van Horton Books
• Publication date: 2014
• ISBN 10: 0983550565
• ISBN 13: 9780983550563
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 4
• Number of pages: 276