The Dream

The dream of escape to America carried Harry’s mother through the harsh years of poverty in a bleak, industrial mill town in the north of England as the First World War raged. In America, she believed, they would at last be free of the daily struggle to make ends meet, the drunken brutality of her husband, and the religious bigotry which divided their narrow cobbled street.This is the extraordinary true story of the Bernstein family’s struggle to settle in Chicago and the devastating impact of the Depression; but it’s also a very personal and powerfully moving account of young Harry’s first love, of triumph over adversity and never giving up hope. Praise for The Invisible Wall : ‘A heart-wrenching memoir …brilliantly illuminates a family struggling valiantly to beat impossible odds’ - New York Times . ‘An exceptional book’ - Guardian . ‘A compelling narrative of childhood survival …the tale has a freshness, a vitality and a relentless energy …extraordinarily powerful. A triumph of the human spirit over multi-faceted adversity’ - Daily Mail . ‘Extraordinary …spare, uncomplicated, and terribly vivid for it’ - Independent . ‘A remarkable memoir …vivid, compassionate and notably unsentimental’ - Times Literary Supplement .