The House by the Lake

SHORTLISTED FOR THE COSTA BIOGRAPHY AWARD 2015

LONGLISTED FOR THE ORWELL PRIZE 2016

A RADIO four BOOK OF THE WEEK

‘A passionate memoir.’ Neil MacGregor

‘An outstanding portrait of twentieth century Germany seen by the prism of a home which was lived in, and misplaced, by 5 totally different households. A outstanding guide.’ Tom Holland

‘Private and panoramic, heart-wrenching but uplifting, that is historical past at its most alive.’ A.D. Miller

In 2013, Thomas Harding returned to his grandmother’s home on the outskirts of Berlin which she had been pressured to depart when the Nazis swept to energy. What was as soon as her ‘soul place’ now stood empty and derelict. A concrete footpath minimize by the backyard, marking the place the Berlin Wall had stood for almost three many years.

In a bid to avoid wasting the home from demolition, Thomas started to unearth the historical past of the 5 households who had lived there: a nobleman farmer, a affluent Jewish household, a famend Nazi composer, a widow and her youngsters and a Stasi informant. Discovering tales of home pleasure and contentment, of horrible grief and tragedy, and of a hatred handed down by the generations, a historical past of twentieth century Germany and the story of a nation emerged.