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The House by the Lake: The True Story of a House, Its History, and the Four Families Who Made It Home
The House by the Lake: The True Story of a House, Its History, and the Four Families Who Made It Home | Thomas Harding
10 posts | 7 read | 11 to read
History comes home in a deeply moving, exquisitely illustrated tale of a small house, taken by the Nazis, that harbors a succession of families--and becomes a quiet witness to a tumultuous century. The days went around like a wheel. The sun rose, warming the walls of the house. On the outskirts of Berlin, Germany, a wooden cottage stands on the shore of a lake. Over the course of a hundred years, this little house played host to a kind Jewish doctor and his family, a successful Nazi composer, wartime refugees, and a secret-police informant. During that time, as a world war came and went and the Berlin Wall arose just a stone's throw from the back door, the house filled up with myriad everyday moments. And when that time was over, and the dwelling was empty and derelict, the great-grandson of the man who built the house felt compelled to bring it back to life and listen to the story it had to tell. Illuminated by Britta Teckentrup's magnificent illustrations, Thomas Harding's narration reads like a haunting fairy tale--a lyrical picture-book rendering of the story he first shared in an acclaimed personal history for adult readers.
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Erynecki
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Author Thomas Harding has reduced his family story into a children‘s picture book. It‘s beautiful - both the artwork by Brittany Teckentruo and the pared back story to its key moments. I have ambitions to do something similar with Chasing Portraits and my great grandfather‘s paintings.

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kspenmoll
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Librarybelle Great selection! Several of these are on my to read list. 5y
Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks Thank you for the tag 💗💗 5y
Cinfhen Make room for me!! I‘m joining 5y
See All 6 Comments
MrBook Oooh! Great choices! I do this for one of my book clubs. 😁 5y
Mdargusch I really enjoyed Kitchen Yarns! It was free at a book fair I attended and I thought it was about knitting. I was pleasantly surprised that it was full of recipes! 5y
BarbaraTheBibliophage Thanks for the tag — I finally posted my list! Yours is intriguing. 👊🏻📚♥️ 5y
65 likes6 comments
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Caroline2
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I haven‘t read this one yet but it sounds good. 👍🏻 #lakeside #letstravelaugust

LeeRHarry That‘s on my shelf somewhere 😬it does sound good. 5y
Crazeedi I'm adding, sounds like my kind of book 5y
OriginalCyn620 👌🏻📚💙 5y
Reviewsbylola This book may have the longest Litsy blurb I have ever seen. 😆 5y
Caroline2 @Reviewsbylola wow, you‘re right that is a massive blurb!!!! 😲 5y
81 likes2 stack adds5 comments
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Addison_Reads
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When my father-in-law passed a few years ago, my husband and I inherited family property in Texas with a 3 acre lake. We are working on rebuilding the house that was on the land and I can't wait until we're done and these are the views I get to wake up to daily. 😍

#gratitude30

alisiakae Beautiful! 6y
readordierachel Wow. What a gorgeous spot! 6y
RadicalReader @Addison_Reads never seen more phenomenal photography 6y
Addison_Reads @4thhouseontheleft @readordierachel @RadicalReader Thank you guys! This time of year I love sneaking away out there to read and just forget the world for a little while. 6y
22 likes4 comments
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Erynecki
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I'm enjoying The House By The Lake. It's giving me time to reflect upon the parallels and differences in my family's story and my own quest.
Now finished...
Rescuing history and seeking restorative justice, Harding does it all in The House By The Lake. Great read and important history.

LeahBergen This sounds fantastic. 8y
Erynecki @LeahBergen It is! But I must admit...it's a subject I gravitate to again and again because of my own journey, so I feel a bit biased. 8y
14 likes2 stack adds2 comments
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Clare_Riley
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I was expecting a dry history book - come on, it's about Germany, I've done a German degree, I know how devoid of feeling a 'proper' history book can be 😆. But this is something else. There's so much heart in it, I felt for these people, the hardships they had to go through, the upheavals in their lives. I loved this book - I'm rather devastated that it's over. I feel a trip to Berlin coming on....

6 likes2 stack adds
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Clare_Riley
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I'm loving this book so much, and I'm so near the end. Don't you hate it when that happens with a good book? Eight pages to go...

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Clare_Riley
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If it's set in Germany, it has to be read. I read German at university, so I'm slightly (a lot) biased! Although, it's been a while, so I'm not too sure that I'm up to fact checking 😳