The Sign on the Door
A Story of Open Secrets and Hidden Identities
Format:Paperback
Publisher:Coach House Books
Publishing:26th Dec '24
£13.99
This title is due to be published on 26th December, and will be despatched as soon as possible.
A stolen sign, ‘No Jews Live Here,’ kept John Lorinc’s Hungarian Jewish family alive during the Holocaust.
From pre-war Budapest to post-war Toronto, journalist John Lorinc unspools four generations of his Hungarian Jewish family's journey through the Holocaust, the 1956 Revolution, and finally exodus from a country that can't rid itself of its antisemitic demons.
This braided saga centers on the writer's eccentric and defiant grandmother, a consummate survivor who, with her love of flashy jewelry and her vicious tongue, was best appreciated from afar. Lorinc also traces the stories of both his grandfathers and his father, all of whom fell victim, in different ways, to the Nazis’ genocidal campaign to rid Europe of Jews.
This is a deeply reported but profoundly human telling of a vile part of history, told through Lorinc’s distinctively astute and compassionate consideration of how cities and cultures work. Set against the complicated and poorly understood background of Hungary's Jewish community, No Jews Live Here is about family stories, and how the narratives of our lives are shaped by our times and historical forces over which we have no control.
"John Lorinc weaves Hungarian history with the equally fascinating history of his own family to tell a deeply researched story with universal resonance: how events, enormous and seemingly tiny (a genocidal war, foggy skies), conspire to create outcomes with life-and-death implications through generations." – Marsha Lederman, author of Kiss the Red Stairs: The Holocaust, Once Removed
A Canadian Loan Stars Pick
"Readers will find themselves savouring every word, looking within their own family history as part of the saga of human survival." – Julie Kirsh, The Jewish Post & News
"Drawing on his understanding of cities and culture, Lorinc traces how his ancestors were swept up in forces beyond their control and fought to survive the swift-moving stream of history." – Anthony Milton, Toronto Life
ISBN: 9781552454923
Dimensions: 209mm x 133mm x 17mm
Weight: unknown
200 pages