The Vanished Collection

Pauline Baer de Perignon is a natural storyteller--refreshingly honest, curious and open. Like the best memoirists, she manages to tell multiple stories simultaneously, to delicately layer meanings and narratives. Here is not only a riveting art world mystery, but an utterly personal, heartfelt, and extremely intelligent story of a woman doing everything she can to uncover the truths of her family. --Menachem Kaiser, author of Plunder: A Memoir of Family Property and Nazi Treasure A heartwarming and fascinating story by a superlatively gifted writer and first-rate reporter. ... The Vanished Collection is a remarkable book. --Air Mail Riveting ... This page-turner will delight art history and mystery fans alike. --Publishers Weekly Engrossing ... The book reads like a detective story. ... [Its] ultimate theme is about restoring memory--that most significant feature that makes humans human. --The Washington Post Undeniably intriguing ... memorable and often moving. A fascinating journey to uncover lost family secrets--and treasure. --Kirkus Reviews A charmingly told account of a woman's quest to reconstruct her great-grandfather's art collection that leads her not only to the restitution of looted works, but also to a profound and touching recognition of her family's wartime odyssey and her own place in their myriad generations. --Lynn H. Nicholas, author of The Rape of Europa: The Fate of Europe's Treasures in the Third Reich and the Second World War Beautifully evokes a vanished world that once stood at the crossroads between the heights of civilization and the depths of barbarism before being overwhelmed by the latter. The restitution to Pauline Baer de Perignon's family of one of France's finest 18th-century masterpieces, through a harrowing process dramatically recounted in this book, goes some way to redeem the cause of civilization. --James Gardner, author of The Louvre: The Many Lives of the World's Most Famous Museum This book--aside from its flowing style, compelling storyline and intriguing twists and turns--adds such an important chapter to the Holocaust narrative and its culture-centered subset. --The Holocaust Art Restitution Project Fascinating--a true treasure hunt through history ... Make[s] for riveting reading. As it sifts through 'a jumble of beautiful things, of gilt and dust, ' The Vanished Collection arrives at a sense of delayed justice--but also at invaluable family reconnections. --Foreword Reviews A page-turning book that is part detective story, part personal journey ... De Perignon manages to successfully penetrate the often-opaque world of art restitution through pluck and perseverance, while uncovering an unspoken part of her family history. --The Forward This detective story, this memoir, is one for our time. ... There are lots of funny passages. ... Should you read this book? Absolutely. --Musee Musings For decades the lost Jules Strauss collection lay shrouded in mystery. First the Nazi expropriation, followed by the family's own denial. Finally through determination a great-granddaughter is able to piece together previously buried clues. Pauline Baer's goal is justice, but an unexpected consequence is a poignant connection with lost family and a keener understanding of history. --Simon Goodman, author of The Orpheus Clock: The Search for My Family's Art Treasures Stolen by the Nazis 'Every family has its paradise lost, ' writes Pauline Baer de Perignon. Like the Camondos, the Rothschilds, the Ephrussis and other Jewish families whose art was looted in the war, her heritage is of epic proportions and this account of that past resurfacing today is as moving as it is fascinating. I could not put it down. --Cecile David-Weill, author of Parents Under the Influence and The Suitors As devourable as a thriller ... Incredibly moving. --Elle De Perignon's mem-oir is a robust addi-tion to the grow-ing genre of art resti-tu-tion sto-ries, the depic-tion of her own dogged quest to achieve some sort of jus-tice for her family's loss cap-tured deftly ... pro-vides a sat-is-fy-ing tale of one person's attempt to right a long-stand-ing injus-tice and redeem a family's heritage. --Jewish Book Council A terrific book. --Le Point Stimulated by a desire to write, Pauline unconsciously understands that what she really wants is to bear witness. As if in a Kubrick film, she opens a door and a river of blood pours out on her. With valued assistance from Modiano, Pauline digs into this shocking story that amazes and breaks the heart ... transforming an unfortunately commonplace account of paintings stolen by the Nazis into a breathtaking novel of suspense. --Le Figaro