Originally published in 1964 and hailed by critics including Cynthia Ozick and Elie Wiesel, Other People’s Houses tells the story of a ten-year-old girl who, alongside hundreds of other Jewish children, boards the Kindertransport to England to escape the Nazi occupation and oppression in Vienna in 1938.
Over the course of the next seven years, Lore lives with various families in “other people’s houses”—ranging from the homes of the wealthy Orthodox Jewish Levines, the working-class Hoopers, and two elderly sisters in their formal Victorian household. As the war looms and Lore becomes enmeshed in the effort to get her parents out of Austria, she also becomes a passionate writer, documenting her struggles and displacement in letters to a variety of potential sponsors. Brilliantly highlighting the cultural differences between Vienna and England, the novel showcases the immigrant experience through the eyes of a young writer who would go on to become the highly acclaimed “brilliant and boundary breaking” (Los Angeles Review of Books) star of international fiction.
Told through the unique and moving perspective of a child forced to grow up quickly, Other People’s Houses is the “groundbreaking and indomitable” (Forbes) tale of one girl’s captivating refugee experience and the strength and bravery it takes to start over—and to survive.
