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Letters to Camondo

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About this listen

Brought to you by Penguin.

63 rue de Monceau, Paris

Dear friend,

As you may have guessed by now, I am not in your house by accident. I know your street rather well.

Count Moïse de Camondo lived a few doors away from Edmund de Waal's forebears, the Ephrussi, first encountered in his best-selling memoir The Hare with Amber Eyes. Like the Ephrussi, the Camondos were part of Belle Epoque high society. They were also targets of anti-Semitism.

Camondo created a spectacular house and filled it with the greatest private collection of French 18th-century art for his son to inherit. But when Nissim was killed in the First World War, it became a memorial and, on the count's death, was bequeathed to France.

The Musée Nissim de Camondo has remained unchanged since 1936. Edmund de Waal explores the lavish rooms and detailed archives and uncovers new layers to the family story. In a haunting series of letters addressed to the count, he tells us what happened next.

©2021 Edmund de Waal (P)2021 Penguin Audio 20th Century Art Europe Judaism Modern
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this was a truly excellent audiobook. with the author having Reddit we understand the full emphasis of the words he is saying. if you have read The Hare with the Amber Eyes or even if you haven't, I would recommend that you give this a listen.

excellent, powerful

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Not just a precious collectors item ! At first I got lost: who is who; where are we now; when are we? And a LOTof lists! Still, I let myself be carried along, as on a museum route, in an enchanted fashion. The language is hypnotic: awe-inspiring.

In the end, all the summing up works because this is precisely not about objects (of art). Be moved, and watch them form a magical landscape, too real, at times, too otherworldly at others.

There is the harrowing ending of things, as to be expected with de Waal's history taking us into diaspora and holocaust, but the clue is stunning: living memory and not dead stuff make history. Archivists maybe the only reliable historians.
Be mesmerised !





Very Special

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Wonderful book and beautifully narrated by the author. Would recommend reading De Waals book The Hare with Amber Eyes first as the two tie together beautifully.

Lovely to listen to

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This is a really lovely book and beautifully read
Highly recommended a real joy to listen to

Beautiful writing

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I wasn't sure about the format at first but soon got into it. So glad the author read it to give the emphasis exactly where it needed to hit home. Shock8ng stuff!

Important listening - best read by the Author

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