But You Did Not Come Back

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Review ------ In just 100 pages, Loridan-Ivens goes to the heart of her-daughter relations; the result is a masterpiece of restraint and luminous precision . . . But You Did Not Come Back is a human chronicle of rare power. (Ian Thomson Financial Times) But You Did Not Come Back is a letter of a lifetime. It is profound, compelling, effortless, searing. Almost every sentence is a distillation of the human capacity for suffering and survival. It is written in sinewy, spare prose that has an intensity of poetry . . . That she has been impelled to write such a difficult, discerning and unputdownable testimony is an acute reminder of the time in which we live, and a reflection of her enduring spirit. (Helen Davies Sunday Times) This . . . book, at turns poetic, raw, beautiful and painful, takes the form of a love letter to him by his daughter . . . It would be tempting to say that her eloquent, heartbreaking testimony could sway hate-addled minds. Tempting, but it would be disrespectful to her honesty, to the enormity of what she experienced. Just read it. (Robbie Millen The Times) This is a haunting and beautiful book, valuable not only for the first-hand experience of the worst atrocity in living history, but also for its illustration of the long-term effects of trauma, the persistence of anti-Semitism and the enduring power of love. (Leyla Sanai Independent) Devastating . . . Loridan-Ivens writes in a plain, conversational style . . . that flows as memory does, observation and recollection in balance. It can be read at a sitting; and then asks to be read again. For even at this distance, when we think we know what happened, and what history tells us, the truth, as seen through Marceline's clear-eyed gaze, astonishes and horrifies . . . There is kindness, too, and courage in this book. (Erica Wagner New Statesman) Very occasionally a book comes along that demands to be published. A book about pain and suffering, about cruelty and humanity, about grief and love. But You Did Not Come Back is an exquisitely written, beautifully translated and unwaveringly honest testimony; a story we will all do well never to forget. (Hannah Beckerman Observer) But You Did Not Come Back is as fine and unsparing a book as you could ever find. (Caroline Moorhead Guardian) This astonishing and beautifully written letter to [Marceline's her] is a love letter, a story of lives lived and lost, and shows the heavy burden that falls on the survivor. (Stylist) Unputdownable, an astonishing account of a family caught up in the Holocaust's turbulent wake, so deeply sad and very very moving. (Thomas Harding) A profoundly moving testimony of the challenges of survival, a wake-up call to those who ignore the rise of anti-Semitism in Europe, and a stunning tribute to her late her, But You Did Not Come Back is heartbreaking, important, and unlike anything that has preceded it. (André Aciman) Book Description ---------------- A runaway bestseller in France, But You Did Not Come Back is the breathtaking, deeply moving and critically accled memoir of a survivor of the Holocaust.