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The Hare with Amber Eyes: A Hidden Inheritance Audiobook
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Plot Summary
"The Hare with Amber Eyes: A Family's Century of Art and Loss" is the story of the Ephrussis, a great Jewish family that lived in Austria but was displaced with the advent of the Nazis. De Waal tells us the story of the family by recounting the history of a collection of Japanese figurines called netsuke. Made of wood and ivory, the netsuke were first purchased by Charles Ephrussi who was a connoisseur of art and had a collection that included many great European artists such as Manet and Renoir.
After owning the netsuke for a few years, Charles sent them as a wedding gift to his cousin Viktor who was the second son of the head of the Ephrussi family. However, when Viktor's older brother ran off with his father's mistress, he was disinherited, and Viktor was groomed to take the old man's place. Viktor took on the financial responsibility of the empire and married Emmy with whom he had a large family. Although Emmy had a number of lovers, she was a good mother and spent many languorous evenings reading with her children.
Unfortunately, this was when the Nazis struck and all the family valuables were destroyed except for the netsuke which were hidden by a faithful maid in the household. Emmy killed herself, and Viktor and his daughter Elizabeth managed to escape to England with very little. Two of the sons made their way over to the US, including Ignace or Iggie who became a member of the intelligence corps due to his flair for languages. Iggie eventually went to Japan where he became a financier and found a long-term partner. The netsuke were in his possession but eventually made their way over to Edmund de Waal, the grandson of Viktor's daughter, Elizabeth, and this was what prompted his writing of the family history.
This is indeed a fascinating tale in which fortunes grow and shrink. People go through good times and are then brutally attacked; everything that they own goes down the drain, and yet, they survive and move on. In a reversal of roles, the black sheep of the family, Iggie, eventually became the successful one. The Hare with Amber Eyes, (which refers to one of the figurines), is written with artistic flair and shows a connoisseur's pleasure in beautiful things. At the same time, it's nostalgic and can't help looking back at the great days of the Ephrussis with a kind of longing.
Edmund de Waal was born in Nottingham, England, the son of Esther Aline and Rev. Dr. Victor de Waal and grandson of Elizabeth and Hendrik de Waal. He became interested in ceramics at an early age, learning to make pots and deferred his college studies to become more involved in ceramics and visit Japan. He then attended Cambridge and studied English, following this with a diploma in the Japanese language from Sheffield University.
Today, de Waal is known as one of the foremost potters in England; his porcelain pots, essentially classical-looking but with minor irregularities have made him well known in the art world. He has also written two books, the first about the ceramicist Bernard Leach and the second about the Ephrussi family, The Hare with Amber Eyes. The latter has received several awards including the Ondaatje Prize and the Costa Book Award.
Download The Hare with Amber Eyes: A Family's Century of Art and Loss from The Audio Bookstore and follow the fate of these Japanese figurines from the time they were first bought by the Ephrussi family to the present.
"This book was a fascinating portrait of a family that really brings the extent of the Jewish diaspora to life. Just as the author took sidetracks into the history of japonisme and the life of Proust, I was inspired to pull out my Bernard Leach catalog (the author is a potter who trained under a disciple of Leach) and research the history of Odessa. This is a rich history of people and things, as they move through a variety of places."
— Crystal (4 out of 5 stars)
Publisher Summary
A New York Times Bestseller An Economist Book of the Year Costa Book Award Winner for Biography Galaxy National Book Award Winner (New Writer of the Year Award) Edmund de Waal is a world-famous ceramicist. Having spent thirty years making beautiful pots—which are then sold, collected, and handed on—he has a particular sense of the secret lives of objects. When he inherited a collection of 264 tiny Japanese wood and ivory carvings, called netsuke, he wanted to know who had touched and held them, and how the collection had managed to survive. And so begins The Hare with Amber Eyes, this extraordinarily moving memoir and detective story as de Waal discovers both the origins of the netsuke and of his family, the Ephrussis, over five generations. A nineteenth-century banking dynasty in Paris and Vienna, the Ephrussis were as rich and respected as the Rothchilds. Yet by the end of the World War II, when the netsuke were hidden from the Nazis in Vienna, this collection of very small carvings was all that remained of their vast empire. "To be handed a story as durable and exquisitely crafted as this is a rare pleasure. . . . This book is impossible to put down. You have in your hands a masterpiece." —The Sunday Times (London)
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Awards
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Among shortlisted titles for RSL Ondaatje Prize Shortlist, 2011
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Winner of RSL Ondaatje Prize Winner, 2011
The Hare with Amber Eyes Listener Reviews
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" This is an amazing thoughtful, interesting, and poignent history of a family, a set of objects and in many ways the history of europe. It touches on so many intereseting areas it is hard to describe. I couldn't put it down. "
— Ahf, 2/12/2014 -
" Wonderful book - warm, loving, interesting, moving and very well written. Definitely on my top shelf. "
— Madeleine, 2/7/2014 -
" This book, about the Ephussi Family, starts out very slowly with mostly the art history of the family in Paris, but picks up when the author moves to write about the family in Vienna and their experiences in the WWII. "
— Debby, 1/22/2014 -
" Very good book,this memoir was interesting,full of art history and a touching story. "
— Dian, 1/22/2014 -
" You might want to skip parts of the beginning--there is a lot of name dropping and little forward movement of the story. But overall, the book tells an interesting story of one Jewish family's experience in Europe during WW2. "
— Rita, 1/15/2014 -
" It's a fascinating book on Edmund de waal's family's past, telling the story of three generations of ancestors, living in Paris, Vienna and Japan. "
— Armen, 1/10/2014 -
" A little too much detail at times for me. But this added another whole dimension to a couple of periods of history -- most particularly to the impressionist era in Paris that I found fascinating. "
— Gayle, 12/1/2013 -
" If you can make it past Paris -- yes it is hard -- and get into the Vienna section you will be rewarded. "
— Megumi, 11/3/2013 -
" What a great, fascinating read! The history, the mediation on art and objects, the reflection on the author's research process...all things to recommend this book. "
— Emily, 10/27/2013 -
" Story of the wealthy Ephrusssi family, their fate from the 1890's forward, and the netsuke collection they acquired. Nonfiction. "
— Linden, 10/17/2013 -
" Best book in a long time. "
— Carrie, 3/23/2013 -
" Very hard to read but worth it for the interesting historical point of view and philosophy of inheritance. "
— Julie, 1/27/2013 -
" I am afraid the Rothschilds have lost their way, generally. They hardly "shine". I find it impossible to believe they ever did. It's a story of absolute privilege. Forgive my yawn. Or not. "
— Vera, 10/15/2012 -
" Justly praised as one of the best books of last year, this is a fascinating combination of art, history and family. "
— Mhbright, 5/10/2012 -
" Intriguing look at a collection, a family, and the effects Hilter and the political right wing had on them. This nonfiction recounting and memoir is a wonderful change of pace from fiction reads. "
— Joy, 1/19/2012 -
" Took too long to get involved in story before it became interesting. "
— Brenna, 12/16/2011 -
" I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It was well written and the family's history was fascinating. Well worth reading. "
— Ian, 9/14/2011 -
" I loved it. It had history, intrigue, and a philosophy of art and objects that was thought provoking. I read it with my ipad next to me so I could look everything up. It was nerdy fun! "
— Kate, 6/29/2011 -
" Such a good read - and not what I expected at all. "
— Lindsey, 6/19/2011 -
" A family story told through the collection of 264 Japanese Netsuke wook and ivory carvings that moved between several different generations of the Ephrussis family, and were among the few possessions saved from the Naziz. An interesting story of a family empire told in an interesting manner. "
— Susan, 6/13/2011 -
" This book is riveting. Wish I had a family history like this (well, maybe not all of it). "
— Amber, 6/9/2011 -
" I found it fascinating - the rise and fall of a Jewish family in Europe across 150 years using the netsuke as the means to do this. The description of the Anschluss in Austria was horrific but the resilience of the survivors was inspiring. "
— Keri, 6/2/2011
About Edmund de Waal
Edmund de Waal is one of the world’s leading ceramic artists, and his porcelain is held in many major museum collections. His bestselling memoir, The Hare with Amber Eyes has been published in thirty languages and won the Costa Biography Award and the RSL Ondaatje Prize. It was shortlisted for the Duff Cooper Prize, the Jewish Quarterly Wingate Prize, the PEN/Ackerley Prize and the Southbank Sky Arts Award for Literature, and longlisted for the Orwell Prize and BBC Samuel Johnson Prize. He lives in London with his family.
About Michael Maloney
Michael Maloney is an actor who has appeared in numerous television productions, including as Romeo in Romeo and Juliet and Prince Hal in Henry IV, parts 1 and 2, for which he won Best Actor/Best Supporting Actor awards. His theater credits include Sleuth, Peer Gynt, and All My Sons, and his film credits include The Young Victoria and Notes on a Scandal. He has narrated numerous audiobooks, earning seven AudioFile Earphones Awards.