[ book tip by Kathryn McNeill ] Gaglow is a country mansion belonging to a wealthy Jewish family, the Belgards. They acquire it just before the outbreak of the First World War. In present day London, Sarah, a descendant of the Belgards, finds out that Gaglow is to be returned to the family after being seized by Nazis during World War Two. She becomes fascinated by the house and the people who lived there. 

The chapters alternate between past and present. The story of the Belgards is revealed at first hand and in the snippets of information that Sarah gleans from her reluctant father who has distanced himself from his family. There is a difference between what really happened and how it is remembered and it is interesting to read both sides. 

I thought Freud’s writing perfectly captured the atmosphere of Gaglow, which provides a quirkily beautiful, tranquil backdrop for the family dramas that play out. The chapters about wartime Germany are well researched, and for me this was a refreshingly different perspective on the war. The chapters set in the present are more mundane in comparison, but maybe this is done on purpose. There is certainly a complete contrast between past and present.  

A lot of the ‘present’ chapters are set in Sarah’s father’s studio where she is sitting with the baby for a portrait. The writing conveys the calm atmosphere of the studio well but the rest of Sarah’s story is frankly a bit dull, at times reading almost like a trashy novel. What I did like, though, were the descriptions of Sarah’s life with a newborn baby. The details were spot on and it really took me back to what it was like to be a new mother.  

Although I enjoyed Gaglow, I was left feeling that some of the characters were slightly one-dimensional and that the relationships between them were never completely explored.

[ book info ] Freud, Esther: Gaglow. (Book language: English) Hamish Hamilton, London, 1997 (1997). ISBN: 0-241-00305-9.