Author(s): Harry Bernstein

Biography

Harry Bernsteins' childhood in the industrial north of England in the shadow of the First World War is one of hardship and hostility. His brutish father spends what little he earns at the tailoring shop on drink, while his devoted mother survives on her dreams: that new shoes might secure Harry's admission to a fancy school; that her daughter might marry the local rabbi; that one day they might all escape this grinding poverty for the paradise of America. "The Invisible Wall" is a wonderfully vivid portrait of a lost world - a story of working class life and the daily struggle to make ends meet, of young Harry's growing awareness of social divides and divided loyalties, and his fears for his adored elder sister Lily, who is risking all by pursuing a forbidden love...