“Elon powerfully evokes the obscurity of the past and its hold on the present as we stumble through revelation after revelation with Yoel. As we accompany him on his journey…we share in his loss, surprise, and grief, right up to the novel’s shocking conclusion.” –The New York Times Book Review In the tradition of The Invisible Bridge and The Weight of Ink, “a vibrant, page-turning family … Ink, “a vibrant, page-turning family mystery” (Jennifer Cody Epstein, author of Wunderland) about a writer who discovers the truth about his mother’s wartime years in Amsterdam, unearthing a shocking secret that becomes the subject of his magnum opus.
Renowned author Yoel Blum reluctantly agrees to visit his birthplace of Amsterdam to promote his books, despite promising his late mother that he would never return to that city. While touring the Jewish Historical Museum with his wife, Yoel stumbles upon footage portraying prewar Dutch Jewry and is astonished to see the youthful face of his beloved mother staring back at him, posing with his father, his older sister…and an infant he doesn’t recognize.
This unsettling discovery launches him into a fervent search for the truth, shining a light on Amsterdam’s dark wartime history–the underground networks that hid Jewish children away from danger and those who betrayed their own for the sake of survival. The deeper into the past Yoel digs up, the better he understands his mother’s silence, and the more urgent the question that has unconsciously haunted him for a lifetime–Who am I?–becomes.
Part family mystery, part wartime drama, House on Endless Waters is “a rewarding meditation on survival” (Kirkus Reviews, starred review) and a “deeply immersive achievement that brings to life stories that must never be forgotten” (USA TODAY).
more
I received a free electronic copy of this historical novel from Netgalley, Emuna Elon, and Washington Square Press. Thank you all for sharing your hard work with me. I have read ‘House of Endless Waters’ of my own volition, and this review reflects my honest opinion of this work. This is an excellent mystery and a moving family saga, but in the ARC edition, the transitions between 1940s wartime and the 21 century are not always cleanly accomplished. I am hopeful that in the finished version of this novel that is better addressed.
I am excited to see more novels from the World War II-era that take place in the lesser-known areas of combat – this is perhaps the third I have encountered in the last couple of years that involve the Netherlands, though that country too was inhaled by the Germans fairly early on in that war. Portions of Amsterdam are built on deep pilings over running water, which is what the title refers to, though perhaps only partially. This was a very explosive time in all of Europe and Jews were nowhere immune to the annihilation perpetrated by the German military on races and religions they considered impure.
The House on Endless Waters follows two distinct time frames – during the war, we see through the Jewish eyes of Sonia, a nurse and now a full-time mother. Sonia is married to Dr. Edouard Blum – Eddy, who is a medical doctor. They have two children, Hetty is about 4, and Leo is a toddler when Eddie is called up to report to Germany. Despite Sonia’s pleas that he simply disappears, Eddy goes when he is called, leaving his little family in Amsterdam, a community where the remaining rights of the Jewish community are curtailed more tightly every day. Sonia must decide how best to protect her children – and daily it becomes more evident that they must be sent through the underground to be raised as one of their own by Christian families. The decision now is how long she can postpone giving her children away. And the fine line between ‘achievement’ and ‘too late’ is a very thin one.
In more modern times we are along for the ride with respected Isreali author Yoel Blum and his wife, Bat-Ami. Yoel and Bat-Ami are the parents of three adult daughters, a tightly knit family in this modern world. The last promise Yoel made to his recently deceased mother was to never return to his birthplace, to not try to unravel the past of their family. Yoel’s publisher is trying to talk him into adding Amsterdam to his European book circuit. It is, both publisher and Bat-Ami remind him, very important that he include Amsterdam, as the latest novel was also published in Holland. And Bat-Ami will gladly accompany him.
And that lecture, that book signing went very well. The problem is while there Yoel feels compelled to write about Holland. To research his family’s actions and reactions during the war. A week after returning to Isreal with Bat-Ami, Yoel sets off again alone, intent on doing background for his Holland novel. There are so many things he knows he needs to know about Amsterdam and the life there during WWII – and the many things that he doesn’t know that he needs to know about this place, those days, begins to color his world.
Never go back to Amsterdam were words Yoel’s mother drilled into him, but she would never tell why.
When one of Yoel’s books was translated into Dutch, he and his wife needed to go to Amsterdam even though he felt guilty about defying his mother’s wishes.
While they were in Amsterdam, Yoel and Bat-Ami visited a Jewish museum, looked at some still films, and saw his mother, his father, his sister, and himself in the films.
Yoel wondered why no one ever told him about this part of his life. He had to ask his sister, and he HAD to find out.
We follow Yoel as he moves around Amsterdam in hopes of finding anything that will help him discover who he is. His sister did help him with information, but he had to be there and see for himself as he unraveled the mystery of his life and his mother’s life.
The writing and story line are absolutely mesmerizing and beautiful as well as heartbreaking.
HOUSE ON ENDLESS WATERS is a book that will stay with me because of its haunting beauty and its profound, thought-provoking story line.
Historical fiction fans will devour this book and the marvelous research Ms. Elon did with Amsterdam’s history and its part in WWII. 5/5
This book was given to me by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
Yoel Blum, a world-wild acclaimed author, was born in Amsterdam and emigrated to Israel as an infant with his mother and older sister, Ettie. His mother made him promise before her death that he would never go back to Amsterdam, and he kept that promise until his publisher insists that he must appear there to receive yet another award.
On a visit to the Jewish Historical Museum, he sees a newsreel which contains a picture of his family – his father, mother, Ettie and a young son, but the boy isn’t him. After watching the reel hundreds of times, he decides he must stay in Amsterdam and seek out the story behind the picture. For if he is not the boy in the picture, who is? And who is he, himself?
Yoel rents a room, visits the museum daily, walks the streets of Amsterdam, researching, digging, writing his story, and the story of his mother as he imagines things might have happened. It is a slow-paced reflection on his life, his identity, a look back at the slow insidious way that Jews lost their social standing, their jobs, their rights, and worse as Nazism gains ground in Holland.
Through his research and reflection, Yoel becomes a changed man, a better man, a man who now wants to be more fully a part of the family that is his. A slow paced read, but a worthwhile one. This rates a 3.5 stars rounded to 4 stars from me.
My thanks to NetGalley and Atria Books for allowing me to read a copy of this book in exchange for an unbiased review.