Raven Mother (1800)

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In a powerful work of memoir, history and biography, Jane Messer retraces the tragic and hopeful steps of her Jewish German grandmother, Bella. From pre-war Berlin to Tel Aviv to Melbourne, Messer follows Bella's journey and tries to understand her choices, including why she abandoned her son Michael in England before the war. Along the way, she speaks with historians in Germany, peace activists, scholars and refugees in Israel and Palestine, and, constantly, to her beloved father. Shifting between the personal and the historical with lyrical precision, Raven Mother grapples with the grand scale of global events and the intimate struggles of family and memory. 'In seeking the truth about her grandmother, Messer uncovers far more than a family history. Her thorough journey reveals profound questions of identity, loss, and displacement, while exposing the deep-rooted racism and injustice woven through the world she explores.' Majeda