THE HOUSE BY THE LAKE
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In the summer of 1993, Thomas Harding travelled to Germany with his grandmother to visit a small house by a lake on the outskirts of Berlin. It had been her ‘soul place’ as a child, she said – a holiday home for her and her family, but much more – a sanctuary, a refuge. In the 1930s, she had been forced to leave the house, fleeing to England as the Nazis swept to power. The trip, she said, was a chance to see it one last time, to remember it as it was. But the house had changed. Nearly twenty years later Thomas returned to the house. It was government property now, derelict, and soon to be demolished. It was his legacy, one that had been loved, abandoned, fought over – a house his grandmother had desired until her death. Could it be saved? And should it be saved?
He began to make tentative enquiries – speaking to neighbours and villagers, visiting archives, unearthing secrets that had lain hidden for decades. Slowly he began to piece together the lives of the five families who had lived there – a wealthy landowner, a prosperous Jewish family, a renowned composer, a widower and her children, a Stasi informant. All had made the house their home, and all – bar one – had been forced out. The house had been the site of domestic bliss and of contentment, but also of terrible grief and tragedy. It had weathered storms, fires and abandonment, witnessed violence, betrayals and murders, had withstood the trauma of a world war, and the dividing of a nation.
As the story of the house began to take shape, Thomas realized that there was a chance to save it – but in doing so, he would have to resolve his own family’s feelings towards their former homeland – and a hatred handed down through the generations.
The House by the Lake is a groundbreaking and revelatory new history of Germany over a tumultuous century, told through the story of a small wooden house. Breathtaking in scope, intimate in its detail, it is the long-awaited new history from the author of the bestselling Hanns and Rudolf
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Reviews
If [Harding’s previous bestseller] Hanns & Rudolf was a sonata, The House by the Lake is a symphony, telling the story of modern Germany with one recurring theme: history as seen from the Alexander family’s lake house outside Berlin….The House by the Lake skips between its varied occupants and [historical] events to present an admirably clear and concise history of modern Germany. It’s an impressive feat of archival and investigative research. Fascinating revelations abound…. [A] powerful book.' - -The Economist
'The House by the Lake: One House, Five Families, and a Hundred Years of German History" is an epic, fact-filled, multivoiced saga told with pace, verve and warmth, and rich in fascinating revelations... He regales us with murder, espionage, de-Nazification trials and simple family drama, and at the end of his masterful tale we understand more about Germany's difficult past and appreciate what makes a house a home.' - - Malcom Forbes, Star Tribune
'There’s a kind of literary alchemy that occurs in Thomas Harding’s remarkable new history,The House by the Lake. What started as a simple inquest into his family’s German heritage by examining the history of their historic home on the outskirts of Berlin was transformed into a revelatory political, economic, and social history of Germany in all its shame and glories.' - - Kirkus Reviews
"A passionate memoir about Germany" - - Neil MacGregor, author of A History of the World in 100 Objects and Germany: Memories of a Nation
"In The House by the Lake, the simple villa loved and lost by Thomas Harding's family magically becomes the setting for the great clashes of the twentieth century, and for a technicolour cast - victims, villains and ordinary compromisers - struggling not to be crushed by them. Personal and panoramic, heart-wrenching yet uplifting, this is history at its most alive." -- A. D. Miller, author of Snowdrops and The Faithful Couple
'By tracing the lives of the different families who lived there, Hardingsheds fresh light on the German 20th century, a tale of war, spies, murder and political, racial and social division. His account of the house is a superb work of social history, told with tremendous narrative verve.' - - Ian Critchley, Sunday Times
'This is a history that is often poignant, sometimes heartening, and never other than intimate... This is a gentle but rewarding book, carefully tuned into the marginal voices recorded in the history of one small house by a lake.' - - Clare Mulley, The Spectator
"A superb portrait of twentieth century Germany seen through the prism of a house which was lived in, and lost, by five different families. A remarkable book" - - Tom Holland, author of In The Shadow Of The Sword: The Battle for Global Empire and the End of the Ancient World
'Extraordinary... A masterpiece of microcosmic history' - - The Bookseller magazine
'Diamond-brilliant... If a webcam had been left on at number 101 Gross Glienicke for 90 years, the record could not have been more vivid or revelatory. Harding’s research, from eyewitness accounts to the files of ministries, is jaw-dropping. This is an extraordinary book. Five Stars' - - John Lewis-Stempel, Sunday Express
‘Harding writes of love and loss, of victims and villains, of struggle and survival in a heart-wrenching family memoir that many novelists would envy for powerful story, colourful characters and cool style.’ - Saga Magazine
'With the narrative drive of a great novelist and the meticulous research of a great historian, Harding has crafted a moving, instructive and important book (9/10).' - - Dan Brotzel, Herald Scotland
'A fascinating window on a tumultuous period' - - Jamie Waters, Financial Times
'A fascinating and revealing account of a century of German social and political history, told in an effortlessly accessible way.' - - David Lodge, author of Changing Places
'Impressive... A deft history of a cabin containing many secrets.' - - Marcus Tanner, The Independent
'It would be hard to write an original and moving account of the tortured 20th-century history of Germany. But, in The House by the Lake, Thomas Harding succeeds remarkably... A tragic and beautifully told history.' - - Oliver Kamm, Jewish Chronicle
'Original, personal, moving and uplifting... [Harding] writes engagingly and sympathetically.' - - Anne Sebba, Literary Review
'‘This emblem of tyranny [the Berlin Wall] was just another fact of life for those living in its shadow. And that is, perhaps, the most important lesson of Harding’s book. History, which we learn about as a series of ideological abstractions, is lived concretely. This is why an ordinary house can serve so effectively as a symbol of the German experience.’ - - Adam Kirsch, New Statesman
'The house by the lake has survived economic booms, busts, extremist ideology, persecution, barbed wired fences, blame and retribution and this book is a potent reminder that behind all these, are human stories.' - - Lucy Baring, Country Life
'It is Harding’s great achievement that he has painted a large canvas of history, but done so with glinting individual stories. He has persevered in listening to those “quiet voices”. - Rebecca Morrison, The Guardian
'This revelatory and compelling book is a clear must-read for anyone interested in German history during the past tumultuous century. The House By The Lake is a deeply moving story of endurance - of place as well as people. It is also uplifting as we learn of how the crumbling wreck of the house is restored to a haven of reconciliation and peace for the community and visitors to enjoy, and to heed its history which has been so brilliantly exposed.' - - Lyn Smith, author of Forgotten Voices
Summary
Hardcover: 464 pages
Publisher: William Heinemann (24 Sept. 2015)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0434023221
ISBN-13: 978-0434023226
Product Dimensions: 15.6 x 3.8 x 24 cm
Order a copy of the book here