Two Sisters

’[An] evocative and wrenching family history.’

‘Whitehouse is good at describing the poisonous mixture of xenophobia and racism that infected French society between the wars … Two Sisters is both a tale of rejection, the French turning their backs on the immigrants who had helped to rebuild their country after the First World War, and of kindness.’

’[A] heartrending account… This makes a well-covered historical period feel agonisingly immediate.’

‘A compelling account of survival and remembrance.’

’[Whitehouse does an] expert job, [revealing] the shocking progression of France, from the first European country to emancipate Jews, to a place where people denounced, betrayed and helped to murder them.’

‘The multifaceted Two Sisters … [is] at once a family memoir, a story of cooperation between the French and Jewish Resistance, a history of the Vichy government’s mixed record in collaboration with the Nazis, and an examination of the wartime fissures in French society that have lasted until today.’

‘The plight - and resistance - of foreign-born Jews in France during the Holocaust is a subject often overshadowed by that of Germany and the rest of Europe, something which Rosie Whitehouse sets out to remedy in her latest book, Two Sisters.’

‘A com­pelling sto­ry of strength, love, and resis­tance, but also of betray­al. It not only tells a per­son­al sto­ry but reminds us of the respon­si­bil­i­ty that we have for one anoth­er and that gov­ern­ments have to pro­tect their citizens.’

‘Rosie Whitehouse’s gripping narrative begins with a poignant portrait of a family torn apart, but soon broadens into searing questions of dispossession and betrayal that haunt European politics to this day. In illuminating the unyielding spirit of those who dared to defy oppression, Whitehouse masterfully renders the enduring light of human courage against the encroaching shadows of tyranny.’

‘British journalist Tim Judah was six years old when he asked his mother Marion why she didn’t have a mother. Two Sisters, written by the journalist Rosie Whitehouse (and Tim Judah’s wife) answers that question in a story that reads like a thriller: a family running from the Nazis and their religion, hoping they would find safety in France. Brilliantly researched and beautifully written, Two Sisters tells the story of the Holocaust in France through a family caught in the maelstrom.’

‘Two Sisters is a brilliant meditation on family and trauma across generations, a much-needed critical reappraisal of the Jewish experience in France during the Holocaust, and a reminder of just how complicated and nuanced individual stories can be—even, and perhaps especially, the stories of those we feel we know so well.’

Rosie Whitehouse, a journalist, writes about Holocaust survivors for BBC Online, the Observer, Tablet magazine, The Jewish Chronicle and Haaretz. She is the author of The People on the Beach (also published by Hurst), and the Bradt guide to Europe’s Holocaust memorials, museums and sites.