• The Hare with Amber Eyes

  • A Hidden Inheritance
  • By: Edmund de Waal
  • Narrated by: Michael Maloney
  • Length: 10 hrs and 39 mins
  • 4.3 out of 5 stars (1,210 ratings)

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The Hare with Amber Eyes  By  cover art

The Hare with Amber Eyes

By: Edmund de Waal
Narrated by: Michael Maloney
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Publisher's summary

The Ephrussis were a grand banking family, as rich and respected as the Rothschilds, who “burned like a comet” in 19th-century Paris and Vienna society. Yet by the end of World War II, almost the only thing remaining of their vast empire was a collection of 264 wood and ivory carvings, none of them larger than a matchbox.

The renowned ceramicist Edmund de Waal became the fifth generation to inherit this small and exquisite collection of netsuke. Entranced by their beauty and mystery, he determined to trace the story of his family through the story of the collection. The netsuke—drunken monks, almost-ripe plums, snarling tigers—were gathered by Charles Ephrussi at the height of the Parisian rage for all things Japanese. Charles had shunned the place set aside for him in the family business to make a study of art, and of beautiful living. An early supporter of the Impressionists, he appears, oddly formal in a top hat, in Renoir’s Luncheon of the Boating Party. Marcel Proust studied Charles closely enough to use him as a model for the aesthete and lover Swann in Remembrance of Things Past.

Charles gave the carvings as a wedding gift to his cousin Viktor in Vienna; his children were allowed to play with one netsuke each while they watched their mother, the Baroness Emmy, dress for ball after ball. Her older daughter grew up to disdain fashionable society. Longing to write, she struck up a correspondence with Rilke, who encouraged her in her poetry.

The Anschluss changed their world beyond recognition. Ephrussi and his cosmopolitan family were imprisoned or scattered, and Hitler’s theorist on the “Jewish question” appropriated their magnificent palace on the Ringstrasse. A library of priceless books and a collection of Old Master paintings were confiscated by the Nazis. But the netsuke were smuggled away by a loyal maid, Anna, and hidden in her straw mattress. Years after the war, she would find a way to return them to the family she’d served even in their exile.

In The Hare with Amber Eyes, Edmund de Waal unfolds the story of a remarkable family and a tumultuous century. Sweeping yet intimate, it is a highly original meditation on art, history, and family, as elegant and precise as the netsuke themselves.

©2010 Edmund de Waal (P)2011 Macmillan Audio

What listeners say about The Hare with Amber Eyes

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Detailed account of the fall of a Jewish dinasty

The first part of this book was somewhat tedious with the detailed descriptions of Charles Ephusi's life of collecting. I only became truly interested in the story once the family, living in Austria began to be faced with the rising tide of anti-semitism and Hitler. It is a shocking story of the total assimilation of a Jewish family who despite their tenuous identification with their people suffer the loss of all of their great wealth due to their jewishness. today, the progeny of this family are no longer Jewish, but have done well and live around the world in various places. one item of the collection that Charles began, the nitsui Japanese sculptures remains with the family.

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One of the best books I've ever read

Beautifully written, moving, and important. A stunning piece of history and a work of art in itself. I didn't want it to end.

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A treasure

This book is a treasure – important history, and beautifully written. I highly recommend it to everyone.

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Of patriotism and prejudice

A moving story of a prominent European family, patrons of art and culture. But one can’t tell a story of a Jewish family without recognizing the powerful currents of antisemitism that ran throughout Europe. And this book tells the full story absolutely eloquently. One of my favorite books ever.

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Marvelous Story Well-Told

I didn't know what to expect with this book. Art, history, memoir? But it grabbed me from the start and kept unfolding with more and more history (artistic, socio-political, etc.), fascinating details, and family revelations. Sensitively written, superb listening experience, strong recommendation.

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The Hare with Amber Eyes

All around this is a most excellent story. Thank you for sharing your family’s historical journey and for the education on the Japanese art Netsuke.

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Remarkable

It took a little to get into the flow but once it gets going there is no turning away.

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Touching experience

I enjoyed this as experience, but also suffered quite intensely for the so forgotten and shameful persecution inflicted by narrow minded bigots over and over. I shall hope we will be able to finally change

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Fascinating story of history and memoir

This is a fascinating story that turns out to be history through the eyes of a wealthy family, There is a thread - a collection of Japanese miniature sculptures - that brings it all together. There are also the multiple generations and branches of a family that became extremely wealthy.through whose eyes we see history unfold. I love European art, with Impressionists being my favorite, and music, and for part of it (one family member was an art collector) I felt that I was able to peer in at the life and times of these artists in a way that was most illuminating. I had a flavor of Paris at the time - for the wealthy, though the artists often were not at all wealthy and depended upon the wealthy to serve as patrons. I love travel and have been to Paris, but this was like a Time Machine, taking me back to Paris during the time of the Impressionists and the Dreyfus affair. The story is superbly told and I enjoyed every moment. Maloney is a wonderful reader. He made the story so alive, with a sense of excitement, mystery, intrigue in his voice. I loved it.

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Sprawling, gorgeous, masterful work

Thank you Edmund de Waal for going on this epic journey to record your family’s history. It was the best memoir I ever read.

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