Edmund de Waal's family memoir, The Hare with Amber Eyes, will be the topic of the next book discussion by Bernardsville Library's book group, Saturday Samplers. Saturday Samplers meets Saturday, July 13th, at 3:30 p.m. in the small meeting room, and new members are encouraged to attend.
The book's title refers to one of the 264 netsuke which the author inherited after this collection of Japanese carvings was passed down through several generations of the fabulously wealthy Ephrussi family. By the time de Waal inherited these small carvings in ivory and wood, the Ephrussi line living in Vienna had already suffered the irreparable loss of position, wealth, and family possessions due to Austrian anti-Semitism and Hitler's purge of European Jews. The Ephrussi dynasty rose and fell, but the little netsuke survived intact, inspiring the author in his research and demonstrating to him that some things endure even when so much changes.
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