A young woman moves across an ocean to uncover the truth about her grandparents’ mysterious estrangement and pieces together the extraordinary story of their wartime experiences In 1948, after surviving World War II by escaping Nazi-occupied France for refugee camps in Switzerland, Miranda’s grandparents, Anna and Armand, bought an old stone house in a remote, picturesque village in the South … village in the South of France. Five years later, Anna packed her bags and walked out on Armand, taking the typewriter and their children. Aside from one brief encounter, the two never saw or spoke to each other again, never remarried, and never revealed what had divided them forever.
A Fifty-Year Silence is the deeply involving account of Miranda Richmond Mouillot’s journey to find out what happened between her grandmother, a physician, and her grandfather, an interpreter at the Nuremberg Trials, who refused to utter his wife’s name aloud after she left him. To discover the roots of their embittered and entrenched silence, Miranda abandons her plans for the future and moves to their stone house, now a crumbling ruin; immerses herself in letters, archival materials, and secondary sources; and teases stories out of her reticent, and declining, grandparents. As she reconstructs how Anna and Armand braved overwhelming odds and how the knowledge her grandfather acquired at Nuremberg destroyed their relationship, Miranda wrestles with the legacy of trauma, the burden of history, and the complexities of memory. She also finds herself learning how not only to survive but to thrive–making a home in the village and falling in love.
With warmth, humor, and rich, evocative details that bring her grandparents’ outsize characters and their daily struggles vividly to life, A Fifty-Year Silence is a heartbreaking, uplifting love story spanning two continents and three generations.
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It is clear Miranda had a deep love for her grandparents and, through relaying their stories, she inspires that adoration in the reader. Obviously she did an incredible amount of research, even though a lot of the documents were vague and hard to find. Her explanation of the silence between her grandparents is somewhat speculative, since neither of them would confirm or deny overtly, but completely believable and acceptable. Difficult lives very well lived.
Interesting to read about other people’s lives.
The author found out a lot about how her grandparents’ lives were harshly affected by what was going on in Europe during and after WW II. No wonder they weren’t able to stay together after that. She also ably describes how the house her grandmother bought and her grandfather took care of for decades, affected her own life.
A story of the author’s grandparents. You constantly wonder why they ever got married! And so does the author. But their story is twisted by WWll, and the hardships and uncertainty that war brings. Loved that it was true.
Some of it was a little repetitive; however, I mostly liked the book and did finish reading it.
I LOVED this book. A very moving family memoir, beautifully written, that effortlessly weaves the story of the author’s grandparents with her journey to piece it together.
This book was well written and told a sad but beautiful story about two people who dealt/coped differently after the end of World War II. It did not have the happy ending for the couple that I was hoping for but the ending made me think more in depth about people’s emotions at face value.
An interesting study on nature vs. nurture and how people survive in horrifically frightening times. One frames her life as “I have been lucky” and one as a potential suicide. Two lives are never equivalent but the contrast is thought provoking.
I really liked this author and how she approached such a personal story. She did a beautiful job with her research and sharing the real life story of these tragic and strong individuals. I’ve never given much thought of just how the rest of their lives went after such trauma!
Written and read by the granddaughter of these two remarkable people.
What a lovely story. Told in a very special way. You will love the book
Interesting story of the immigrants, not so interesting fantasies of their story by the author.
I could not put this book down. It was fascinating.
The story was poignant. However, I was somewhat disappointed with the ending.
It was well written and quite an amazing story of WW2 and the aftermath and it’s impact on individuals.
A grandparents love story from their granddaughter’s heart. Loved it!
A haunting narrative of two and then three people caught in situation not of their making which destroyed one relationship and help develop another.
Disappointing in the end
The story was good, but at times I wondered where it was going as did the author. It was no great story of romance destroyed by the holocaust, but one of real life experiences that draw you together, and pull you apart.
So many books about the Holocaust, each worth reading. This one has a different approach. It focuses on the long term effects on the lives of 2 survivors and their family members.