Description
Book SynopsisThis evocative picture of a lost London and a vanished culture is also the story of a bookish boy discovering his own path. John Gross is the son of a Jewish doctor who practiced in the East End of London from the 1920s to World War II and beyond. His parents were the children of immigrants, steeped in Eastern European customs, yet outside the home he grew up in a very English world of comics and corner shops, sandbags and bomb sites, battered school desks and addictive, dusty cinemas. Mr. Gross looks back on his childhood with humor and insight, tracing this double inheritance. Religion underpins family life: the richness of the Yiddish language, stories, jokes and music-hall humor, the rituals and mysteries of the synagogue, are set against the life of the streets, where boxers and gangsters are heroes and patients turn up on the doorstep at all hours. And in the background, behind the wit and the color, lie the shadows of anti-Semitism and the Holocaust.
Trade ReviewWise, witty, and good-tempered. -- E. S. Turner * Times Literary Supplement *
Beautifully written and deeply moving. -- Hilton Kramer
Intelligent, humane, highly civilized...the voice we hear not only holds our attention but also wins our affection and respect. * Los Angeles Times *
A very beautiful and valuable book. -- Oliver Sacks
Incisive.... Mr. Gross's voice—demure, measured, if at times overly cautious—is strikingly unique and unusually trustworthy. * The Wall Street Journal *
Remarkably readable and entertaining. -- Antonia Fraser
Extraordinary riches are crammed into this short book. -- Susan Hill
Captivating and finely instructive. Written with grace and lucidity. -- Robert Alter
Subtle and deeply satisfying to read. -- Michael Holroyd
A wonderfully evocative account of growing up in London's Jewish East End. -- Daniel Bell
A delightful memoir of life to the age of 18 in London before, during, and after World War II. * The New York Times *
