The enchanting true story of a love affair that broke down the walls that divided a neighborhood, bringing to mind the memoirs of Michael Patrick McDonald and Frank McCourt.

The Invisible Wall

Harry Bernstein

Biographies & Memoirs

Ballantine Books

Harry Bernsteins' childhood in the industrial north of England in the shadow of the First World War is one of hardship and hostility. His brutish father spends what little he earns at the tailoring shop on drink, while his devoted mother survives on her dreams: that new shoes might secure Harry's admission to a fancy school; that her daughter might marry the local rabbi; that one day they might all escape this grinding poverty for the paradise of America. "The Invisible Wall" is a wonderfully vivid portrait of a lost world - a story of working class life and the daily struggle to make ends meet, of young Harry's growing awareness of social divides and divided loyalties, and his fears for his adored elder sister Lily, who is risking all by pursuing a forbidden love...

Invisible Wall

Ballantine Books. New York

This wonderfully charming memoir, written when the author was 93, vibrantly brings to life an all-but-forgotten time and place. It is a moving tale of working-class life, and of the boundaries that can be overcome by love. “There are places that I have never forgotten. A little cobbled street in a smoky mill town in the North of England has haunted me for the greater part of my life. It was inevitable that I should write about it and the people who lived on both sides of its ‘Invisible Wall.’ ” The narrow street where Harry Bernstein grew up, in a small English mill town, was seemingly unremarkable. It was identical to countless other streets in countless other working-class neighborhoods of the early 1900s, except for the “invisible wall” that ran down its center, dividing Jewish families on one side from Christian families on the other. Only a few feet of cobblestones separated Jews from Gentiles, but socially, it they were miles apart. On the eve of World War I, Harry’s family struggles to make ends meet. His father earns little money at the Jewish tailoring shop and brings home even less, preferring to spend his wages drinking and gambling. Harry’s mother, devoted to her children and fiercely resilient, survives on her dreams: new shoes that might secure Harry’s admission to a fancy school; that her daughter might marry the local rabbi; that the entire family might one day be whisked off to the paradise of America. Then Harry’s older sister, Lily, does the unthinkable: She falls in love with Arthur, a Christian boy from across the street. When Harry unwittingly discovers their secret affair, he must choose between the morals he’s been taught all his life, his loyalty to his selfless mother, and what he knows to be true in his own heart.

The Invisible Wall: A Love Story That Broke Barriers

Parenting & Relationships

Random House Publishing Group

The Invisible Wall: A Love Story That Broke Barriers by Harry Bernstein (2008-02-12)

Arts & Literature

Memoirs

Blackstone Audio,Inc.

Den osynliga väggen

Brombergs Bokförlag

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Books by Harry Bernstein