House on Endless Waters, Emuna Elon
House on Endless Waters, Emuna Elon
1 Rating(s)
List: $25.99 | Sale: $18.20
Club: $12.99

House on Endless Waters

Author: Emuna Elon

Narrator: Jonathan Davis

Unabridged: 10 hr 9 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 01/07/2020


Synopsis

“Elon powerfully evokes the obscurity of the past and its hold on the present as we stumble through revelation after revelation with Yoel. As we accompany him on his journey…we share in his loss, surprise, and grief, right up to the novel’s shocking conclusion.” —The New York Times Book Review

In the tradition of The Invisible Bridge and The Weight of Ink, “a vibrant, page-turning family mystery” (Jennifer Cody Epstein, author of Wunderland) about a writer who discovers the truth about his mother’s wartime years in Amsterdam, unearthing a shocking secret that becomes the subject of his magnum opus.

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 up, 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 “a rewarding meditation on survival” (Kirkus Reviews, starred review) and a “deeply immersive achievement that brings to life stories that must never be forgotten” (USA TODAY).

About Emuna Elon

Emuna Elon is an internationally bestselling, critically acclaimed novelist, journalist, and women’s activist. Born to a family of prominent rabbis and scholars, she was raised in Jerusalem and New York. She teaches Judaism, Hasidism, and Hebrew literature. Her first novel translated into English, If You Awaken Love, was a National Jewish Book Award finalist.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Angela M on December 28, 2019

3.5 stars rounded up This is one of those books that I thought I would love more than I did. I am a fervent reader of holocaust stories because I believe in my heart and soul that it’s something we need to never forget, as horrific as it was. We need to continually remind ourselves and each other, a......more

Goodreads review by Christine on October 15, 2019

I selected this book as I knew little about Amsterdam and even less about what went on in the Netherlands during WWII. I did get some good insight on those topics, but what turned out to be even better was the unexpected incredible slice of life that actually was the focus of the novel. Yoel Blum is......more

Goodreads review by Karen on December 26, 2019

Yoel is a famous Israeli author and he makes a trip to Amsterdam with his wife and at a museum there, they see something pertaining to his past that becomes a real mystery. This story flashes back and forth from present day to World War ll Amsterdam. This was very hard for me to read because it was v......more

Goodreads review by Annette on March 03, 2020

The chapters are very short, making the pace feel fast. As the story begins, it pulls the reader in very quickly. But once Yoel is back in Amsterdam searching for some answers and as the story switches between present and past times and him reminiscing about his family, a disconnection happens. While......more

Goodreads review by Elizabeth of Silver's Reviews on January 06, 2020

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......more


Quotes

"In this audiobook, Israeli novelist Yoel Blum visits the Jewish Museum in Amsterdam, where he stumbles upon a video image of his family during WWII. His shock at seeing another boy in the footage compels him to dig into his family's past. Narrator Jonathan Davis artfully portrays Yoel's intelligent introspection as he uncovers stunning truths about his family and racial heritage. Davis's gravitas lends credence to Yoel's emotional journey, and to the deplorable persecution of Jews in Holland during the war."