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Chopping Onions on My Heart
On Losing and Preserving Culture
«Ellis’s book is a useful reminder that Jewish generational trauma is not confined to the descendants of those who survived the Holocaust. In fact, given the ubiquity of refugees in the modern world, Chopping Onions on My Heart’s aching sense of loss has a truly global resonance»
Keith Kahn-Harris, Guardian
'An optimistic and wryly funny book... rich with insights' OBSERVER
'I couldn’t put it down’ RUKMINI IYER
‘I loved this book so much... Think: The Body Keeps the Score in practice not theory’ ELLA RISBRIDGER
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'An optimistic and wryly funny book... rich with insights' OBSERVER
'I couldn’t put it down’ RUKMINI IYER
‘I loved this book so much... Think: The Body Keeps the Score in practice not theory’ ELLA RISBRIDGER
Samantha’s mother tongue is dying out. An urgent need to find out more becomes an expansive investigation into how to keep hold of her culture – and when to let it go
The daughter of Iraqi Jewish refugees, Samantha grew up surrounded by the noisy, vivid, hot sounds of Judeo-Iraqi Arabic. A language that’s now on the verge of extinction.
The realisation that she won’t be able to tell her son he’s ‘living in the days of the aubergines’ or ‘chopping onions on my heart’ opens the floodgates. The questions keep coming. How can she pass on the stories without passing on the trauma of displacement? Will her son ever love mango pickle?
In her search for answers Samantha encounters demon bowls, the perils of kohl and the unexpected joys of fusion food. Her journey transports us from the clamour of Noah’s Ark to the calm of the British Museum, from the Oxford School of Rare Jewish Languages to the banks of the River Tigris. As Samantha considers what we lose and keep, she also asks what we might need to let go of to preserve our culture and ourselves.
This is a life-affirming memoir about resilience and repair, and the healing power of dancing to our ancestors’ music, cooking up their recipes and sharing their stories.
‘A moving and resonant lament for the past but also a thought-provoking siren call for the future' ANNE SEBBA
'Urgent, alive, propulsive. I adored it' MARINA BENJAMIN
Detaljer
- Forlag
- Chatto & Windus
- Innbinding
- Innbundet
- Språk
- Engelsk
- Sider
- 288
- ISBN
- 9781784745028
- Utgivelsesår
- 2025
- Format
- 22 x 14 cm
Om forfatteren
The daughter of Iraqi-Jewish refugees, Samantha Ellis is the author of the books
How to be a Heroine and
Take Courage and her plays include
How to Date a Feminist,
Cling to me Like Ivy and
Operation Magic Carpet. Her journalism has appeared in the
Guardian, TLS, Spectator, Literary Review and more. She worked on the first two
Paddington films. She lives in London.
Anmeldelser
«Ellis’s book is a useful reminder that Jewish generational trauma is not confined to the descendants of those who survived the Holocaust. In fact, given the ubiquity of refugees in the modern world, Chopping Onions on My Heart’s aching sense of loss has a truly global resonance»
Keith Kahn-Harris, Guardian
«I loved this book so much. It's a heart-opener and an eye-opener, an invitation to understand our world better. Think: The Body Keeps the Score in practice not theory»
ELLA RISBRIDGER, author of Midnight Chicken
«An optimistic and often wryly funny book... a gift to the future, rich with insights about the nature of belonging that are not limited to one community but matter to all of us»
Stephanie Merritt, Observer
«I am amazed at the breadth and range of Samantha Ellis’s knowledge and insights, and love the endearing and humorous way she shares information that is tragic and frightening as well as heart-warming and full of hope»
CLAUDIA RODEN
«An engaging mix of harrowing history, earnest reflection, recipes, common sense, love, humour and life»
Norma Clarke, Literary Review
«As an Iraqi Jew, reading Chopping Onions on My Heart felt like being seen: the entire book felt like a fierce, honest, and profoundly comforting hug»
Maia Zelkha, Yad Mizrah
«Easily my non-fiction book of the year»
RUKMINI IYER, author of The Roasting Tin
«A profound meditation on loss and the importance of language as a means of remembering... Thoroughly recommended»
ANNE SEBBA, author of The Women's Orchestra of Auschwitz
«A beautiful tale of painful cultural loss, delicious food, rich history; and the bittersweet grief that only the perfect recipe can solve. A truly enlightening book that will leave you hungry yet satisfied»
CARIAD LLOYD, author of You Are Not Alone
«A wonderfully immersive and sensitive meditation on belonging and identity»
VIV GROSKOP, author of How to Own the Room