Enter your mobile number or email address below and we'll send you a link to download the free Kindle App. Then you can start reading Kindle books on your smartphone, tablet, or computer - no Kindle device required.

  • Apple
  • Android
  • Windows Phone
  • Android

To get the free app, enter your email address or mobile phone number.
Download to your computer
Kindle Cloud Reader
Facebook Twitter Pinterest <Embed>
Buy Used
$2.24
+ $3.99 shipping
Used: Good | Details
Sold by betterworldbooks_
Condition: Used: Good
Comment: Former Library book. Shows some signs of wear, and may have some markings on the inside. 100% Money Back Guarantee. Shipped to over one million happy customers.

Sorry, there was a problem.

There was an error retrieving your Wish Lists. Please try again.

Sorry, there was a problem.

List unavailable.
Have one to sell? Sell on Amazon
Flip to back Flip to front
Listen Playing... Paused   You're listening to a sample of the Audible audio edition.
Learn more
See this image

A Garden of Eden in Hell: The Life of Alice Herz-Sommer Hardcover – August 3, 2007

by Melissa Muller (Author), Reinhard Piechocki (Author)
4.3 out of 5 stars 37 customer reviews
See all 6 formats and editions Hide other formats and editions
Price
New from Used from
Kindle
"Please retry"
$7.02
— —
Hardcover
"Please retry"
—
$39.88 $2.24
Paperback
"Please retry"
—
$7.08 $2.80
Best Books of the Month
See the Best Books of the Month
Want to know our Editors' picks for the best books of the month? Browse Best Books of the Month, featuring our favorite new books in more than a dozen categories.

Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought

Page 1 of 1 Start overPage 1 of 1
This shopping feature will continue to load items. In order to navigate out of this carousel please use your heading shortcut key to navigate to the next or previous heading.
Back
  1. A Century of Wisdom: Lessons from the Life of Alice Herz-Sommer, the World's Oldest Living Holocaust Survivor
    Caroline Stoessinger
    4.5 out of 5 stars 145
    Hardcover
    $17.54 Prime
  2. Alice's Piano: The Life of Alice Herz-Sommer
    Melissa Müller
    4.6 out of 5 stars 48
    Hardcover
    $22.58 Prime
  3. Everything is a Present: The Wonder & Grace of Alice Sommer Hertz
    Alice Sommer Herz
    4.4 out of 5 stars 24
    DVD
    $19.99 Prime
Next

Customers Viewing This Page May Be Interested In These Sponsored Links

  (What's this?)
NO_CONTENT_IN_FEATURE

Product Details

  • Hardcover: 456 pages
  • Publisher: Macmillan UK (August 3, 2007)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0230528023
  • ISBN-13: 978-0230528024
  • Product Dimensions: 1.2 x 6.2 x 9.2 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
  • Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (37 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,414,264 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

    •  Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?

Customers Viewing This Page May Be Interested In These Sponsored Links

  (What's this?)

Customer Reviews

Top Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 starsSurvival with the help of music
By Ralph Blumenau on August 3, 2007
Format: Hardcover
WARNING: A READER HAS COMPLAINED THAT THIS REVIEW GIVES THE STORY AWAY, AND THEY HAS SAID (S)HE WOULD NOT NOW BUY THE BOOK. I AM SORRY (S)HE IS DENYING HIM/HERSELF A GREAT EXPERIENCE, WHICH WOULD GO FAR BEYOND WHAT (S)HE LEARNED FROM MY REVIEW, AS THE 15 WHO SO FAR HAVE FOUND IT HELPFUL WILL ATTEST.

Music could always transport Alice Sommer into an autonomous paradisical world. This helped her when the real world turned hellish under the Nazis; and the central part of the book is about those years.

She was born in 1903 into a Jewish, acculturated and German-speaking family in Prague. She started playing the piano at a very young age, and at 21, made her debut as soloist with the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra. In 1931 she married Leopold Sommer and their son Stephan (later to be called Raphael) was born in 1937.

With the Nazi occupation of Czechoslovakia in 1939 their lives changed swiftly, with humiliating restrictions being imposed on Jews day after day. And then the deportations began. First, in July 1942 her 72-year old mother was deported from her Old Age Home to Theresienstadt (and from there to the Treblinka death camp). Then a year later, in July 1943, it was the turn of Alice, Leopold and Stephan, then aged six, to be sent to Theresienstadt.

The physical conditions there were grim, but a few months before the Sommers arrived, the SS had decided to turn it into a `show camp= for observers from the International Red Cross - and so the deportees were provided with musical instruments (which had been confiscated from Jews) and were allowed to arrange their own entertainment. Alice gave many recitals, and the descriptions of these are very moving.Read more ›
4 Comments 45 people found this helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No Sending feedback...
Thank you for your feedback.
Sorry, we failed to record your vote. Please try again
Report abuse
5.0 out of 5 starsA Garden of Eded in Hell - Alice Herz-Sommer
By jen2dogs on December 25, 2011
Format: Paperback Verified Purchase
A compelling true story about an amazing lady, with a strong will to survive and protect her son. To say music is her life is an understatement. Her music and faith in human being has kept her going, despite the horrors she has endured during her lifetime, including being incarcerated in a concentration camp and losing most of her family. She is still able to play the piano and entertain friends daily at the age of 107 and sees the good in people. Delivery of this book was speedy from overseas and the book was just as described, in excellent condition. Recommended as an excellent read and I found it very hard to put the book down once I started to read it.
Comment 12 people found this helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No Sending feedback...
Thank you for your feedback.
Sorry, we failed to record your vote. Please try again
Report abuse
5.0 out of 5 starsGreat inspiration
By Patricia S. Winter on February 22, 2011
Format: Paperback Verified Purchase
As I was scanning through a newspaper I stumbled on an article about the life of Alice Herz-Sommer which immediately interested me. The book is superlatively inspiring and heartwarming, one that I would highly recommend to everyone.
Comment 8 people found this helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No Sending feedback...
Thank you for your feedback.
Sorry, we failed to record your vote. Please try again
Report abuse
3.0 out of 5 starsInteresting but the Kindle edition has really atrocious grammar - very irritating
By Kate on July 22, 2013
Format: Kindle Edition Verified Purchase
This is a fascinating book about Jewish life under the Nazi occupation in Czechoslovakia, but, as a non-musician, I found some of the technical information a bit tiresome at times. I was disappointed that the grammar was so poor throughout the book, ranging from typo's to missing words. I'm not sure if it has to do with the book's lay-out on my Kindle but sometimes whole paragraphs about pieces of music would appear without any apparent connection to the preceding paragraph. These typing errors unfortunately distract from an otherwise interesting book.
Comment 6 people found this helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No Sending feedback...
Thank you for your feedback.
Sorry, we failed to record your vote. Please try again
Report abuse
5.0 out of 5 starsGarden of Eden in Hell
By Linda Lu on September 23, 2013
Format: Paperback Verified Purchase
Unbelievable story of a woman who survives a horrendous time in our history. The most amazing part of her story, is her resistance to be taken down and how she learned to cope with her situation. Just amazing!
Comment 4 people found this helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No Sending feedback...
Thank you for your feedback.
Sorry, we failed to record your vote. Please try again
Report abuse
5.0 out of 5 stars"Been There"
By David Culross on February 27, 2011
Format: Paperback Verified Purchase
Having visited Prague on many occasions, as well as Theresienstadt, I was most impressed with the stark reality of the events described in the book. Anyone who is tempted to dismiss such scenes as either imaginary or (just as bad) irrelevant is only avoiding the tragic reality of what took place there. Hopefully those like Alice Herz-Sommer who share these painful memories will help to prevent a repeat-performance of these horrendous acts in future generations.
Comment 7 people found this helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No Sending feedback...
Thank you for your feedback.
Sorry, we failed to record your vote. Please try again
Report abuse
5.0 out of 5 starsA Garden of Eden in Hell
By Sr. Mary J. Buckman on September 16, 2013
Format: Paperback Verified Purchase
This book was excellent in helping to understand what a section of Jewish people endured during WWII. I have shared it with others.
Comment 2 people found this helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No Sending feedback...
Thank you for your feedback.
Sorry, we failed to record your vote. Please try again
Report abuse
4.0 out of 5 starsAlice Herz-Sommer has an amazingly positive attitude.
By Pat N on July 7, 2012
Format: Paperback Verified Purchase
Alice Herz-Sommer has had a painful and diffcult life, but through all or her struggles, she has remained positive. Although she professes no knowledge of God(as a secular Jew) it is easy to see the hand of God in her life. I believe that the voice she heard repeatedly in her life was not her own but that of a divine Heavenly Father that guided her repeated through perhaps the most turbulent time in the history of mankind while Adolf Hitler came to power and turned the world upside down with his anti-semetic policies. I applaud her courage and devotion to her beloved son.
Comment Was this review helpful to you? Yes No Sending feedback...
Thank you for your feedback.
Sorry, we failed to record your vote. Please try again
Report abuse

Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 starsA truly inspiring life

I watched "The Lady In Number 6" on Netflix a while back and was very excited to find this book on Alice Herz-Sommer. Read more

Published 9 months ago by Mary S. Mason
5.0 out of 5 starswe would really appreciate each day and definitely love whoever is...

If we could grasp the way she has seen life, probably we would smile more, we would really appreciate each day and definitely love whoever is near to us.

Published 10 months ago by Ana M. Vilanova
4.0 out of 5 starsWill give a better review when I finish reading it

I have always been very interested in the Holocaust and the brave and remarkable people who did and did not survive it. Read more

Published 12 months ago by TessG
5.0 out of 5 starsWhat a life

Inspirational! This book is about the triumph of the power of music and the goodness of the soul over the evil in the world. Alice Herz lived quite a life.

Published 15 months ago by Dennis S. Wulkan
3.0 out of 5 starsThree Stars

have not completed reading

Published 18 months ago by chris
5.0 out of 5 starsFive Stars

Amazing story of WWII.

Published 19 months ago by Kathleen Zachman
5.0 out of 5 starsOne of my heroines.

Alice died this year at 108. This is the incredible story of her life before and in the concentration camp. There are U Tube videos that i suggest everyone watch. Read more

Published 19 months ago by Amazon Customer
5.0 out of 5 starsFive Stars

I LOVE IT!!!!

Published 19 months ago by KOBY
5.0 out of 5 starsFive Stars

excellent book

Published 20 months ago by Pat G
4.0 out of 5 starsVery interesting to read about a internment camp other than ...

Very interesting to read about a internment camp other than Auschwitz. We haven't really heard much about the many other camps that existed.

Published 20 months ago by mayo

There's a problem loading this menu right now.

Learn more about Amazon Prime.