The Dream

Bernstein, Harry

ISBN 10 : 0099517868 ISBN 13 : 9780099517863

Editeur : Arrow, 2008

Synopsis

On a narrow cobbled street in a northern mill town young Harry Bernstein and his family face a daily struggle to make ends meet. This is the true story of those harsh years, overshadowed by the First World War. Amidst the hardship and suffering, Harry's devoted mother clings to a dream - that one day they might escape this grinding poverty for the paradise of America. But the regular pleas to relatives in Chicago yield nothing, until one day, when Harry is twelve years old, the family looks on astonished as he opens a letter which contains the longed-for steamship tickets. But the better life of which they'd dreamed proves elusive. Deprivation follows them to Chicago - and for Harry, life becomes more difficult still as he finds himself torn between his responsibilities to his mother, and his first love...

A propos du livre

Quatrième de couverture :

The dream of escape to America carried Harry's mother through the harsh years of poverty in a bleak, industrial mill town in the north of England as the First World War raged.

In America, she believed, they would at last be free of the daily struggle to make ends meet, the drunken brutality of her husband, and the religious bigotry which divided their narrow cobbled street.

This is the extraordinary true story of the Bernstein family's struggle to settle in Chicago and the devastating impact of the Depression; but it's also a very personal and powerfully moving account of young Harry's first love, of triumph over adversity and never giving up hope...

Praise for The Invisible Wall:

'A heart-wrenching memoir ... brilliantly illuminates a family struggling valiantly to beat impossible odds' New York Times

'An exceptional book' Guardian

'A compelling narrative of childhood survival ... the tale has a freshness, a vitality and a relentless energy ... extraordinarily powerful. A triumph of the human spirit over multi-faceted adversity' Daily Mail

'Extraordinary ... spare, uncomplicated, and terribly vivid for it' Independent

'A remarkable memoir ... vivid, compassionate and notably unsentimental' Times Literary Supplement

Revue de presse :

"Deeply touching ... a thoroughly engrossing book: earnest without being sentimental, by turns breathless, lyrical and pain-spaking in it's prose ... capturing the bewilderment and thrill of growing up" (Times Literary Supplement)

"[A] wise, unsentimental memoir" (New York Times)

"A wonderful memoir ... moving, evocative and fresh; I read it late into the night and longed for more." (Nina Bawden, author of CARRIE'S WAR)

"Bernstein describes their struggles and perseverance without a trace of self-dramatisation or self-pity, in quiet prose that sometimes touches poetry." (Washington Post)

"A fitting sequel to the very moving The Invisible Wall. The warmth of the author's personality comes through in every incident he describes. Harry Berstein's story of his family's emigration from England to an America on the brink of the Depression is told with a convincing simplicity of style which effortlessly holds the reader to the last page. If you enjoyed The Invisible Wall you will certainly enjoy The Dream." (Donald James Wheal)

À propos de cette édition

• Éditeur: Arrow
• Date d'édition: 2008
• ISBN 10: 0099517868
• ISBN 13: 9780099517863
• Reliure: Livre broché
• Nombre de pages: 320