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Melting Point: Family, Memory and the Search for a Promised Land

LONGLISTED FOR THE 2024 BAILLIE GIFFORD PRIZE FOR NON-FICTION

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Melting Point: Family, Memory and the Search for a Promised Land

By: Rachel Cockerell
Narrated by: Henry Goodman, Rachel Cockerell
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About this listen

 LONGLISTED FOR THE BAILLIE GIFFORD PRIZE
A TIMES & SUNDAY TIMES BOOK OF THE YEAR
A NEW STATESMAN BOOK OF THE YEAR
A SPECTATOR BOOK OF THE YEAR
ONE OF THE CONVERSATION'S 5 BEST NON-FICTION BOOKS OF 2024


'A truly radical book; radical in subject, radical in form. For the most tragic reasons, it could not feel more immediate; and yet it's a fluid, fast-paced, hugely enjoyable and engaging read.' - Andrew Marr

'Unforgettable... Non fiction will be different as a result.' - Jonathan Freedland

'This is an extraordinarily original way of writing memoir, history and truth. An enthralling book and a wonderful new writer.' - Laura Cumming

'So fascinating, so enjoyable, and beautifully told through diaries, memoirs, speeches and newspapers.' - Simon Sebag Montefiore

'a remarkable book.' - Robert Macfarlane


On June 7th 1907, a ship packed with Russian Jews sets sail not to Jerusalem or New York, as many on board have dreamt, but to Texas. The man who persuades the passengers to go is David Jochelmann, Rachel Cockerell's great-grandfather. It marks the beginning of the Galveston Movement, a forgotten moment in history when 10,000 Jews fled to Texas in the lead-up to WWI.

The charismatic leader of the movement is Jochelmann's closest friend, Israel Zangwill, whose novels have made him famous across Europe and America. As Eastern Europe becomes infected by anti-Semitic violence, Zangwill embarks on a desperate search across the continents for a temporary homeland: from Australia to Canada, Angola to Antarctica. He reluctantly settles on Galveston, Texas. He fears the Jewish people will be absorbed into the great American melting pot, but there is no other hope.

In a highly inventive style, Cockerell uses exclusively source material to capture history as it unfolds, weaving together letters, diaries, memoirs, newspaper articles and interviews into a vivid account of those who were there. Melting Point follows Zangwill and the Jochelmann family through two world wars, to London, New York and Jerusalem - as their lives intertwine with some of the most memorable figures of the twentieth century, and each chooses whether to cling to their history or melt into their new surroundings. It is a story that asks what it means to belong, and what can be salvaged from the past.©2024 Rachel Cockerell Americas Europe Judaism Military United States War Middle East New York Holocaust

Critic reviews

Miraculous
[A] dazzling début . . . a book unlike any [other], and unlike anything I've ever read . . . [a] revelation.
A remarkable book
Astonishing . . . A captivating exploration of identity and a search for belonging, a quest that reverberates into the present.
Spectacularly successful, a joy to be immersed in . . . spellbinding.
Ingenious . . . wonderfully vital and idiosyncratic, a model of how history writing can be made fresh . . . an innovative and immediate account of a story that has world-historical significance.
Cockerell tells the entire story through extracts from newspaper reports, letters, memoirs, documents and interviews. This is an ambitious and high-risk venture. Yet she pulls it off with verve. She handles her material with a maestro's touch.
. . . [E]clectic, fascinating . . . Cockerell shows, doesn't tell, and the reader is left to consider how no family's story can be disentangled from history's complex web.
Rachel Cockerell's riveting and formally inventive narrative offers nothing less than an alternative history of the twentieth century . . . the radical implications of Cockerell's narrative sneak up on you. But they are likely to linger long after the last page has been read.
So fascinating, so enjoyable, and beautifully told through diaries, memoirs, speeches and newspapers.
A fabulous family history . . . Cockerell has an unerring eye for selecting, editing and juxtaposing the most revealing quotations. So the result feels deeply immersive and dramatic. One gets a thrilling sense of history unfolding in real time, of people confused and flailing about in response to immediate events without any sense of what we know now. An exceptionally vivid and compelling family history.
Cockerell's approach, drawing together a vast range of original source material, brings her cast of characters to life with vivacity, their idiosyncrasies and foibles intact.
A bold and provocative book
A truly radical book; radical in subject, radical in form. For the most tragic Reasons, it could not feel more immediate; and yet it's a fluid, fast-paced, hugely enjoyable and engaging read.
Meticulously researched, elegantly constructed, unforgettable
This is an extraordinarily original way of writing memoir, history and truth. An enthralling book and a wonderful new writer
Utterly compelling, at times amusing, at times heartbreaking. The characters of Melting Point will live with you long after the final page
Cockerell deftly interweaves memoir with world-changing events and tells a story that is both important and beautiful. This is a riveting, timeless and timely book. It is history that reads like a novel. Melting Point is simply extraordinary
All stars
Most relevant
Employing an innovative historiographic methodology, this book holds the readers attention completely. Henry Goodman’s inimitable reading rendered it an immersive theatrical experience.

Compelling story

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One of the best audiobooks I’ve ever “read.” I was worried the polyphonic style of the book might not translate to audio but it works beautifully - it’s like the voices of the past are speaking directly to you. I learned so much. Such an immersive experience and the narrator Henry Goodman poured his heart and soul into this. He has a beautiful voice and I never wanted the storytelling to end.

Living and breathing history - captivating

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I listened to the well narrated Audible version. The book provides fascinating insights describing into some of the leading proponents of Zionism and the migration of Central European Jewry to escape from pogroms and prejudice. Towards the end of her book, I got the impression that the author expressed some ambivalence towards the way modern Israel was created, resulting in Palestinian refugees. That story is more complex and did not involve members of the author’s family or their friends and so has fallen outside the scope of this book. Rachel has threaded together strands from her family’s past letting us all learn so much about many aspects of modern Jewish history and culture. It’s an incredible melting pot.

Illuminating insights about the origins of Zionism, friendships and migrations.

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I’ve never read anything like this book. Cockerell tells the story of the early Zionist and territorialist movements, and her families role in it, using only contemporary sources. It doesn’t seem like it should work but the story flows effortlessly. I cannot imagine the time it must have taken to find all the sources for this book, but the effort was well worth it and is vindicated by the quality of this title.

The narration is also excellent with the narrator adding to the experience. I highly recommend this book!

A truly unique non-fiction book

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This provides so much information to digest as someone involved in genealogy. There were leads and so much more understanding of the atmosphere and the leaders while providing answers to some of my own family, many with the same root areas of the world.

Intriguing and well researche

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