I had to do something to escape Hitler's clutches, writes Esti Freud. Yet she waits with her then-16-year-old daughter, Sophie in Paris until German canons can be heard in the distance before deciding to escape by bicycle across France, as Sophie keeps looking back to see whether German tanks will overtake them. Both women survive and, in their own ways, come to feel a need to keep a personal record of those tumultuous times. Thus, in a memoir written at age 79, Esti Fraud, daughter-in-law of Sigmund Freud and wife of his oldest son, Martin, looks back on her life starting before the 20th century, lived on three continents, and stretched through two world wars and the Holocaust. Twenty years after her mothers' death, daughter Sophie turned to Esti's memoir as the scaffold for this book, expanding it through family letters, archival material, and her own diary penned as a teenager. Out of these documents, Sophie Freud has created a many-voiced mosaic, including letters and insights from a wide cast of characters who tell the story of a famous family-and of a century. This work gives an insider's, in-law view of the family Freud, its foundations, and flaws. The relationship between Esti, daughter of a wealthy Vienna attorney and her husband Martin Freud is foreshadowed by the young lovers' fathers. At first meeting Esti, Sigmund told his son the glamorous woman was too beautiful for the clan, meaning her splendor belied a lifestyle not conducive to the frugal Freud ways. And Esti's father, on hearing of her love for Martin, expressed regret she was involved with a man who was not a financially favorable linkage, and that his family was not respectable since patriarch Sigmund was just another psychiatrist, and one who writes pornography books at that. Thus begins the ill-fated relationship that would rock two families and a generation of children to come. Sophie weaves into the text letters she inherited, including letters from Martin while he was a prisoner of war, and excerpts from her own diary, kept as an adolescent. The resulting mosaic will fascinate-and perhaps disturb-readers interested in Freud and psychoanalysis, as well as those intrigued by relationships and family.

"What is in fact most compelling about this book is the sublime honesty of Sophie Freud herself. One feels her pride and her suffering as a scion of psychoanalytic aristocracy." -- Charles B. Strozier, Professor of History, John Jay College and the Graduate Center, CUNY "I found myself completely taken over, pulled into the story and unable to put the book down...so compelling is the combination of historical events with intriguing personal/family stories... This saga, fascinating in its own right, and sheds reflected light on the famous Freud family. Autobiography, diaries and letters give multiple views of these events, held together by Sophie Freud's own fiercely honest narration. I know of nothing like it and strongly recommend it as a beautifully crafted work that will appeal to the widest group of readers." -- Louis Breger, Ph.D., Author of the acclaimed biography Freud: Darkness in the Midst of Vision "This riveting, insightful book illuminates the personal lives of Freud's extended family through letters, diaries and personal observations. No melodrama can match the loves, hates, betrayals and deceptions that rend the members apart. Yet there are displays of extraordinary courage, outstanding achievements, intense cultural pursuits and deep dedication. For instance, amazing courage is displayed by Freud's daughter-in-law and granddaughter as they escape the advancing Germans by bicycling across France. Benignly but distantly, Sigmund floats above the turmoil. For the Freud scholar this is a must-read, for the layman it is as juicy as a gossip column." -- Dorit B. Whiteman, Ph.D., President, Nassau County Psychological Association author of The Uprooted: A Hitler Legacy and Escape via Siberia: A Jewish Child's Odyssey of Survival "Spanning more than a century of family history, Sophie Freud's captivating memoir presents a penetrating and brutally honest glimpse into the conflicted lives, unfulfilled dreams, and cruel setbacks experienced by this extended branch of the Freud family. Readers will be fascinated by the sometimes harrowing details of how this famous family--buffeted by the tragedy of two world wars and the horrors of the Holocaust--survived the arduous path from Vienna to a new life in America." -- Frank J. Sulloway, Author of Freud, Biologist of the Mind: Beyond the Psychoanalytic Legend and Born to Rebel: Birth Order, Family Dynamics, and Creative Lives. "This is a fascinating and unusual book, one that can be read at many different levels. It is a moving document--an act of love--of a daughter who, in her own later years, re-discovers her mother through her mother's autobiography. This is altogether and extraordinary, even epic, account of mainly the lives of mother and daughter, but also of an entire family. I was very moved by its depth, sadness, courage, and honesty." -- Morris N. Eagle, Ph. D., Professor Emeritus, Derner Institute of Advanced Psychological Studies Adelphi University.

About the Author
Sophie Freud is a distinguished and internationally known Professor Emeritus of Social Work at Simmons College. Also previously a practicing Clinical Social Worker and Supervisor, she was born in Vienna and lived near her famed grandfather, psychologist Sigmund Freud, until she emigrated with her mother, first to France then to the United States. Sophie Freud attended Harvard College and the Simmons School of Social Work. She continues teaching and writing in her retirement.

Reviews
From Paris, to Nice, to a refugee camp in Morocco, and then to New York, what this book makes clear is that it is impossible to leave all one's baggage behind....This collection of recollections and contemporary voices is an intriguing insight into the complexities of the family, all the more so because Sigmund Freud himself appears in a sort of cameo role, an incidental but influential presence. It is a fascinating read for scholars of Freud and family relationships alike, although for the interested layman it can be read purely for the soap-opera enjoyment of this complex family. * Metapsychology Online Reviews *
Drawing on her late mother's memoirs, other family writings, and her own diary, Sophie Freud, the granddaughter of Sigmund Freud, chronicles the family's neurotic relationships over the course of the 20th century in Europe and the U.S. For example she reveals that her father was not considered suitable to marry her mother, because the famous psychoanalyst was just another psychiatrist and one who writes pornography at that, and that Dr. Freud was later asked to be her parents' marriage counselor. The book includes a Drucker-Freud family tree, photos, and portraits. * Reference & Research Book News *
Merging memory and love, Sophie Freud has chronicled the struggles of her famous family and its stern patriarch in an affecting memoir of searing power and poignancy....[a] domestic saga that is a valuable document of our times....As if weaving a tapestry, she examines the Freud family legacy by stitching together memories of others, their letters, diaries and even obituaries....The effect is mesmerizing, even Proustian. Instead of writing a memoir that observes history from a single fixed perspective, Freud pulls her readers into her extended family's kaleidoscope lives over decades of personal drama and international conflict. * The Daily News *
Imagine growing up in a home that fully embraced the Oedipus complex? Yeah, not so fun. Enter Sophie Freud, the grand-daughter of the granddaddy of psychoanalytic thought. Freud offers the repressed masses an inside glimpse into such a childhood....Her memoir chronicles the extended family through letters, diaries and recaps of personal experiences, exploring the triumphs and hardships of carrying the famous name. * The Improper Bostonian *



Book Information
ISBN 9780275994150
Author Sophie Freud
Format Hardback
Page Count 472
Imprint Praeger Publishers Inc
Publisher Bloomsbury Publishing Plc
Weight(grams) 879g