When reporter Erin Einhorn found the family that hid her mother from the Nazis during World War II, she thought she’d created a made-for-TV-reunion for two families thrown together by history. A man who knew her mother as a child threw his arms around her and – tears streaming down his face — told her the little girl had been a sister to him. But the initial embrace soon gave way to half a century’s hurt feelings and resentments. Erin found herself apologizing for choices made years before she was born, untangling a real estate deal made on a handshake by people no longer alive, and struggling to prove the death of a great-grandfather born in 1868. Then, as she confronted the heart-wrenching circumstances of her family’s tragic past, unexpected events in her own life altered her mission completely.
Buy it from a small bookshop or Amazon.
This book is now available in hardcover, paperback and Polish.
Hear Erin discuss the book on The Leonard Lopate Show in New York or Radio Times in Philadelphia.
Reviews
“A memoir jam-packed with reportage, interesting characters, unexpected humor as well as grief and conflicting memories.” – The Philadelphia Inquirer
“A detective story framed as a memoir. The story’s subplots reveal how memory often distorts the truth, and how family legend is often colored in the retelling.” – The Detroit News
“A rich examination of tenacity, history and the responsibility that we share for the past.” – The Minneapolis Star-Tribune
“Elegant, well-researched, moving memoir.” — The Jewish Week
“This engaging and thought-provoking memoir brings us up to date and shows just how multi-layered the story truly is.” — Moment Magazine
“Family secrets can be a real bitch: Once you get some answers, they usually lead to more questions and irresolvable ones at that.” —The Village Voice
“A penetrating examination of the behavior of ordinary people in extraordinary times.” — The Jerusalem Post
“Remarkable new book … Endearingly self-aware.” — Philadelphia Weekly
“A stirring story.” — The Jewish Week
“Reveals a complex relationship … combined with sorrows and complications.” — The Detroit Jewish News
“Beautifully written, poignant memoir and coming-of-age story.” — The Cleveland Jewish News
“A compelling picture of two families and two nations.” — Michigan Alumnus Magazine
“An identity quest, a fact check of family folklore and a daughter’s charge to fix the problems of the past.” — The Forward
“The tale of the two families goes beyond Einhorn’s own history and represents two larger stories, those of the Jews and Poles during a pivotal point in history.” — The Michigan Daily
“Erin Einhorn’s detective work brings her back to unlock the secrets of the Polish house where her mother once lived. What a house! Teeming with conflict and history, it allures and frustrates those who try to bring it — and Polish Jewish history — into the 21st century. Pages in Between is a special story of Einhorn’s quest to discover the past and find peace.” — Ann Kirschner, author of Sala’s Gift: My Mother’s Holocaust Story
“Einhorn delicately and movingly interweaves the personal and the epic. Well-wrought, honest and even more ambiguous than most family histories.” — Kirkus Reviews
“A moving account of one woman’s brave journey as she confronts her mother’s past in the cold reality of the present. Erin Einhorn has written a unique Holocaust story — part testimony and part detective story.” — Martin Lemelman, author of Mendel’s Daughter: A Memoir
“Einhorn’s earnestness serves her well in this beautifully told, genuinely inquisitive memoir.” — Publishers Weekly
“An important and haunting work.” — Booklist
“The Pages in Between uniquely underscores an old irony of history: when we set out to learn about others in the past, we end up learning more about our present selves.” — BookPage