Kindergarten [Hardcover]

P S Rushforth (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: 1979

From the acclaimed author of Pinkerton’s Sister, a moving retelling of the Hansel and Gretel story.

A woman is murdered during a terrorist attack, leaving her three sons in the care of their grandmother, Lilli. As the four prepare to celebrate Christmas without her, Lilli is drawn into a lonely world of memories, forced to confront the horrors of the Nazi persecution she managed to survive. After losing her entire family in the Holocaust, Lilli finds that it is this final death–that of her daughter–that allows her to reach out to the next generation and, with them, forge a unique path toward peace and reconciliation.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Praise for Pinkerton’s Sister:

“A brilliant book. . .very real and terribly distressing.”
—A.S. Byatt

“This quite extraordinary book has the intense, deeply focused power of cultural meditation, on certain themes of suffering, of childhood and family, triumphant in this almost unbearable world.”
—New York Times Book Review

“Compelling. . . . A very fine novel, at once sprawling and intimate, and blessed with gorgeous passages worthy of Henry James.”
—Washington Post

“Wondrously unsettling. . .a gorgeous conundrum, the result of a lifetime of close reading–and some 25 years of close writing.”
—San Francisco Chronicle --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

About the Author

Peter Rushforth’s brilliant first novel, Kindergarten, was published in 1979 and won the Hawthornden Prize, awarded to the best work of imaginative literature. After an absence of twenty-five years he returned to the literary scene in 2004 with the epic novel Pinkerton’s Sister, which charmed critics at the Washington Post, New Yorker, and San Francisco Chronicle, and was named a BookSense selection in March 2005. In the fall of 2005 Rushforth finished a sequel to Pinkerton’s Sister, an elegant novel entitled A Dead Language.

Sadly, after making his final revisions to his work, Peter Rushforth passed away while walking on the Yorkshire Moors. A Dead Language was published posthumously in the U.K. by Simon & Schuster. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 192 pages
• Publisher: Hamish Hamilton Ltd; First edition (1979)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0241102634
• ISBN-13: 978-0241102633
• Product Dimensions: 7.9 x 5.1 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #10,381,542 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Innocence and Evil, September 18, 2000

By 

Bruce Frier (Ann Arbor, MI USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Kindergarten (Nonpareil Book) (Paperback)

I read this book when it first came out, and have since read it several times. It is an extraordinarily moving story about modern English children who, because of an act of political terrorism by which they are directly affected, are brought to confront the meaning of the Holocaust from the standpoint of children. The novel is written with a somber simplicity and elegance, yet it succeeds in evoking not just the events themselves, but the whole cultural context of modern European history. It contains, for instance, one of the most frightening versions of the Hansel and Gretel story that you are ever likely to read. This book is definitely not recommended for children, but it would be hard to imagine any adult not finding it a wonderful experience.

4.0 out of 5 stars What a surprisingly powerful novel!, June 7, 2010

By 

Yolanda S. Bean (Chicago, IL) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Kindergarten (Paperback)

I really enjoyed it, but I must admit that I was left wanting more at the end. It is a story told in snippets, in gasping breaths almost. Some parts were more emotional than others, I never actually cried, just felt on the verge of tears several times. It was a good book, but i wanted to hear more of Lilli's story. And more of their mother's. I think this would be a good book for a book club because of the many layers and the fairy tale aspect as well. Unfortunately, it is not the easiest of books to find. All in all, I liked it a lot!

0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Memories., December 25, 2006

By 

The Private intellectual (Europe) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Kindergarten (Paperback)

This is a short book which brings memories and deeper thoughts to the surface. For anyone who merely wishes something to pass the time during a train journey, sorry, but you're in the wrong place. Rushforth's excellent prose draws the reader through various times into a work which is both dark and enlightening; a memory of times past and, perhaps, a warning of future times.

Since it was first published I have read this book many times, and have purchased at least five copies.

Peter Rushforth died recently, shortly after the publication of Pinkerton's Sister and before the publication of Dead Language, both of which show the skill and literary knowledge of a man who (even at 60) died before his time.