A quest takes Pauline Baer de Perignon from the Occupation of France to the present day as she breaks the silence around the wrenching experiences her family never fully transmitted, and asks what art itself is capable of conveying over time.
The book’s research accounts are fascinating—a true treasure hunt through history, involving stumbling, learning on the ground, and sudden fortuitous reveals. But the bonds that De Perignon forms along the way are as heartening, including with family members whom she previously had little contact with, or with whom she had avoided the subject of the war, let alone spoliation ... arrives at a sense of delayed justice—but also at invaluable family reconnections.
... a heartwarming and fascinating story by a superlatively gifted writer and first-rate reporter. The book is also a testament to patience and forbearance ... a remarkable book.
De Perignon’s memoir is a robust addition to the growing genre of art restitution stories, the depiction of her own dogged quest to achieve some sort of justice for her family’s loss captured deftly ... Not all the mysteries of what happened to the Strauss collection are resolved in her quest, but de Perignon provides a satisfying tale of one person’s attempt to right a longstanding injustice and redeem a family’s heritage.
