Reading Claudius

Caroline Heller s unforgettable book is a memoir told in two parts. In Part I, Heller depicts the lives of her mother, father, uncle, and their close friends, who were all at the center of the Jewish literary and intellectual cafe culture in Prague during the 1930 s. Heller recreates the time and place in vivid detail the expressions and clothing, the dialogue and gestures, thoughts, and emotions; her extensive historical knowledge transformed into a gripping narrative. As Hitler s power continues to grow, the world and culture Heller s family and friends treasured is destroyed forever, and they are all forced to flee the country and continent. Heller s father, however, is captured at the border and imprisoned in Buchenwald for six years- his powerful letters to Heller s mother and uncle form the centerpiece of the book. Part II begins at Caroline s birth, and follows her childhood and coming of age, as she struggles to understand the mysteries of her parents lives, and her own life s relation to the momentous historical events that shaped her family s story. Poignant and moving, Heller s memoir is a family history that reimagines the possibilities of the genre, a book for anyon

About the Author :
CAROLINE HELLER is the Director of the Interdisciplinary Ph.D. Program in Educational Studies at Lesley University, where she is also a professor in the graduate school of education. She lives in Boston with her family.

Review :
Advance praise for "Reading Claudius" Caroline Heller writes with both honesty and delicacy. I was particularly enthralled by her finely drawn portrait of prewar Central Europe: a lost world whose memories are inestimably valuable and fiercely beautiful but which, without accounts like this, would fade forever. Anne Fadiman, author of "The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down" "" "Reading Claudius" is much more than a work of riveting personal history. It is a feat of passionate, radical integrity. Caroline Heller has wedded the greatest level of care in her scholarship to an even deeper form of search: that in which imagination becomes not only an act of love but an instrument of truth. Leah Hager Cohen, author of "No Book but the World" and "The Grief of Others" A deeply felt and deeply thought memoir, it manages to unearth a whole lost world with aching tenderness and regret. Phillip Lopate, author of "Portrait Inside My Head"" [Caroline] Heller plunges us lovingly and convincingly into [a] lost world. "The Boston Globe" Caroline Heller writes with both honesty and delicacy. I was particularly enthralled by her finely drawn portrait of prewar Central Europe: a lost world whose memories are inestimably valuable and fiercely beautiful but which, without accounts like this, would fade forever. Anne Fadiman, author of "The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down" "" "Reading Claudius" is much more than a work of riveting personal history. It is a feat of passionate, radical integrity. Caroline Heller has wedded the greatest level of care in her scholarship to an even deeper form of search: that in which imagination becomes not only an act of love but an instrument of truth. Leah Hager Cohen, author of "No Book but the World" and "The Grief of Others" A deeply felt and deeply thought memoir, it manages to unearth a whole lost world with aching tenderness and regret. Phillip Lopate, author of "Portrait Inside My Head"" This fine book contains moments of emotion so pure that in the end, we too fall in love with the writer s past. The New York Times Book Review [Caroline] Heller plunges us lovingly and convincingly into [a] lost world. The Boston Globe Caroline Heller writes with both honesty and delicacy. I was particularly enthralled by her finely drawn portrait of prewar Central Europe: a lost world whose memories are inestimably valuable and fiercely beautiful but which, without accounts like this, would fade forever. Anne Fadiman, author of The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down Reading Claudius is much more than a work of riveting personal history. It is a feat of passionate, radical integrity. Caroline Heller has wedded the greatest level of care in her scholarship to an even deeper form of search: that in which imagination becomes not only an act of love but an instrument of truth. Leah Hager Cohen, author of No Book but the World and The Grief of Others A deeply felt and deeply thought memoir, it manages to unearth a whole lost world with aching tenderness and regret. Phillip Lopate, author of Portrait Inside My Head" "This fine book contains moments of emotion so pure that in the end, we too fall in love with the writer's past."--The New York Times Book Review "[Caroline] Heller plunges us lovingly and convincingly into [a] lost world."--The Boston Globe "Caroline Heller writes with both honesty and delicacy. I was particularly enthralled by her finely drawn portrait of prewar Central Europe: a lost world whose memories are inestimably valuable and fiercely beautiful but which, without accounts like this, would fade forever."--Anne Fadiman, author of The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down "Reading Claudius is much more than a work of riveting personal history. It is a feat of passionate, radical integrity. Caroline Heller has wedded the greatest level of care in her scholarship to an even deeper form of search: that in which imagination becomes not only an act of love but an instrument of truth."--Leah Hager Cohen, author of No Book but the World and The Grief of Others "A deeply felt and deeply thought memoir, it manages to unearth a whole lost world with aching tenderness and regret."--Phillip Lopate, author of Portrait Inside My Head