The Lost Cafe Schindler

One Family, Two Wars and the Search for Truth

The Lost Cafe Schindler
Meriel Schindler
RRP:
NZ$ 27.99
Our Price:
NZ$ 22.39
Paperback
h198 x 129mm - 432pg
27 Jan 2022 UK
International import eta 7-19 days
9781529332087
Out Of Stock
Currently no stock in-store, stock is sourced to your order
' An extraordinary story - so cadenced and so moving. ' -- Edmund de Waal, author of The Hare with Amber Eyes' An extraordinary and compelling book of reckonings - a journey across a long, complex and deeply painful arc of history, grippingly told - a wonderful melding of the personal and the political, the family and the historical. ' -- Philippe Sands, author of East West Street***Kurt Schindler was an impossible man. His daughter Meriel spent her adult life trying to keep him at bay. Kurt had made extravagant claims about their family history. Were they really related to Franz Kafka and Oscar Schindler, of Schindler' s List fame? Or Hitler' s Jewish doctor - Dr Bloch? What really happened on Kristallnacht, the night that Nazis beat Kurt' s father half to death and ransacked the family home? When Kurt died in 2017, Meriel felt compelled to resolve her mixed feelings about him, and to solve the mysteries he had left behind. Starting with photos and papers found in Kurt' s isolated cottage, Meriel embarked on a journey of discovery taking her to Austria, Italy and the USA. She reconnected family members scattered by feuding and war. She pieced together an extraordinary story taking in two centuries, two world wars and a family business: the famous Cafe Schindler. Launched in 1922 as an antidote to the horrors of the First World War, this grand cafe became the whirling social centre of Innsbruck. And then the Nazis arrived. Through the story of the Cafe Schindler and the threads that spool out from it, this moving book weaves together memoir, family history and an untold story of the Jews of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. It explores the restorative power of writing, and offers readers a profound reflection on memory, truth, trauma and the importance of cake.
Meriel Schindler spent the first fifteen years of her life growing up in central London before suddenly being moved to a convent school in provincial Austria. Five years later she moved back to the UK to study French and German at university and is now an employment lawyer, partner and head of a team at Withers LLP, a law firm. Meriel is also a trustee of Arvon, the writing charity, is married to husband Jeremy and has three grown-up children.
Status: Active
ISBN-13: 9781529332087
Published: 27 Jan 2022
Published In: United Kingdom
Imprint: Hodder Paperback
Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton
Format: Paperback
Height: 198mm
Width: 129mm
Pages: 432

In stock - for items in stock we aim to dispatch the next business day. For delivery in NZ allow 2-5 business days, with rural taking a wee bit longer.

Locally sourced in NZ - stock comes from a NZ supplier with an approximate delivery of 7-15 business days.

International Imports - stock is imported into NZ, depending on air or sea shipping option from the international supplier stock can take 10-30 working days to arrive into NZ. 

Pre-order Titles - delivery will vary depending on where the title is published, if local stock is available in NZ then 5-7 business days, for international imports it can be 10-30 business days. In all cases we will access the quickest supply option.

Delivery Packaging - we ship all items in cardboard sleeves or by box with either packing paper or corn starch chips. (We avoid using plastics bubble bags)

Tracking - Orders are delivered by track and trace courier and are fully insured, tracking information will be sent by email once dispatched.

View our full Order & Delivery information