House of Glass

The story and secrets of a twentieth-century Jewish family

By: Hadley Freeman

Narrated by: Hadley Freeman

Length: 10 hrs and 14 mins

Publisher's summary

The Sunday Times bestseller

‘An utterly engrossing book’ Nigella Lawson

‘Remarkable and gripping’ Edmund de Waal

'A near-perfect study of Jewish identity in the 20th century … I don’t hesitate to call it a masterpiece’ Telegraph

After her grandmother died, Hadley Freeman travelled to her apartment to try and make sense of a woman she’d never really known. Sala Glass was a European expat in America – defiantly clinging to her French influences, famously reserved, fashionable to the end – yet to Hadley much of her life remained a mystery. Sala’s experience of surviving one of the most tumultuous periods in modern history was never spoken about.

When Hadley found a shoebox filled with her grandmother’s treasured belongings, it started a decade-long quest to find out their haunting significance and to dig deep into the extraordinary lives of Sala and her three brothers. The search takes Hadley from Picasso’s archives in Paris to a secret room in a farmhouse in Auvergne to Long Island and to Auschwitz.

By piecing together letters, photos and an unpublished memoir, Hadley brings to life the full story of the Glass siblings for the first time: Alex’s past as a fashion couturier and friend of Dior and Chagall; trusting and brave Jacques, a fierce patriot for his adopted country; and the brilliant Henri who hid in occupied France – each of them made extraordinary bids for survival during the Second World War. And alongside her great-uncles’ extraordinary acts of courage in Vichy France, Hadley discovers her grandmother’s equally heroic but more private form of female self-sacrifice.

A moving memoir following the Glass siblings throughout the course of the twentieth-century as they each make their own bid for survival, House of Glass explores assimilation, identity and home – issues that are deeply relevant today.

This audiobook includes an exclusive interview between Hadley Freeman and her editor, in which they discuss the themes of the book and illuminate further on some of the extraordinary events detailed within.

©2020 Hadley Freeman (P)2020 HarperCollins Publishers Limited

Critic reviews

"An utterly engrossing book." (Nigella Lawson)

"Remarkable and gripping." (Edmund de Waal)

"The writing is fresh, original. It is tempting to gorge on this collection at breakneck speed. But it works better as a series of witty polemics on women’s place in society." (Observer)

Compelling memoir and historical journey

I have read many books on Jewish history but Hadley Freeman has done an incredible job. Not only are her family genuinely colourful and interesting but freemen intersperses biography with deeply researched historical facts and occurances that are shockingly relevant in today’s climate, making this a family memoir, a multi- generational sweep and a readable history of Jewish migration in the 20th century. Her reading is top notch.
I have always read Hadley Freeman’s columns with joy - she is one of my favourite journalists - but this book goes beyond all expectations