Ariana Neumann was born and grew up in Venezuela. She previously worked as a foreign correspondent for Venezuela’s The Daily Journal and her writing has also appeared in The European. She currently lives in London with her family. When Time Stopped is her first book.
‘When Time Stopped is a beautifully told story of personal
discovery, of almost unimaginable human bravery and sacrifice, and
a harrowing portrait of living, dying and surviving under the yoke
of Nazism.’
*John Le Carre*
'This deeply personal narrative tells the story of Ariana Neumann’s
family, many of whom were killed by Nazis, and grapples with
Neumann’s attempt to uncover secrets left behind by her
Holocaust-survivor father after his death.'
*Vogue*
‘Ariana Neumann’s story may strike a chord, and rightly so. The
slow and pitiless brutality that took hold of much of Europe in the
1930s is a story that can never be told too often. What makes this
account so effective is that it’s personal and, because of the
dogged extensiveness of her research, Neumann reminds us of the
small details that make the Nazi persecution of the Jews all the
more chilling.
It’s not always a grim story. Alongside anger and despair there is
love and hope. But the message is stark. This is the way bullies
work. When Time Stopped is more than just history. It’s a
warning.’
*Michael Palin*
'Reads like a thriller and it is so, so timely. The work and
emotion put into [the] book is unbelievable.'
*Buzzfeed*
'When Time Stopped is beautiful, deeply moving, and
extraordinary in its reach and its depth. I felt such kinship with
the way in which Ariana Neumann moved through the world in her
journey. It is absolutely remarkable.'
*Edmund de Waal, author of The Hare with Amber Eyes*
‘When Time Stopped is an astonishing family memoir that will
imprint itself on your psyche as only the best books can, forever
changing the way you look at your own family. With a mastery
of the dogged art of research rarely seen, and with an exquisite
narrative sensibility to match, Ariana Neumann has breached the
hidden surface of her family’s tumultuous past and brought not only
their tragedies and sorrows, but also their joys and loves, to
indelible light. I will carry the experience of this book
with me for a very long time.’
*John Burnham Schwartz, author of The Red Daughter, Reservation
Road and The Commoner*
‘In a grand house in Caracas in the 1970s, a young girl comes of
age dreaming of becoming a detective and solving mysteries,
particularly the mystery of her charismatic, enigmatic father. Four
decades later, after he dies, and herself a mother, she embarks on
an extraordinary journey through Central Europe and South America
to uncover her father's past. Through pre-war Prague's
intelligentsia to the rise of fascism in Europe to the horror of
Hitler's camps, she combines a daughter's love with a profound
yearning for truth. The result is a love letter to a father
who, out of sheer will and determination, did not allow the Nazis
to destroy him - and who rose to become one of Venezuela's most
successful industrialists. Part literary memoir, part mystery
tale, Ariana Neumann's tribute to her father is a classic story of
redemption and love.’
*Janine di Giovanni, 2019 Guggenheim Fellow and author of The
Morning They Came for Us: Dispatches from Syria*
‘This book is utterly riveting: Ms. Neumann's memoir reads like a
detective novel, as she unravels her late father's complex,
agonizing yet inspiring trajectory. Conjuring the lives of her
relatives murdered in the Holocaust, she brings their lost world to
vivid life.’
*Claire Messud, New York Times bestselling author of The Emperor’s
Children and The Woman Upstairs*
‘I’ve read countless memoirs. I’ve read hundreds of books about the
Holocaust and mysteries and detective stories and rigorously
researched tomes of history and psychological studies of the
effects of trauma. But never in my reading life have I ever come
across anything akin to this magical, brilliant and gripping work
of art combining all of these elements into a lyrical tapestry of
one woman’s quest to understand her father’s mysterious past and
therefore her own. To call this moving is an understatement. It is
a journey of untold grace, sorrow and love.’
*Deborah Copaken, bestselling author of Shutterbabe: Adventures in
Love and War and The Red Book*
‘Growing up in a comfortable Caracas home, surrounded by joy,
gaiety and the ‘birds of paradise’ -- and a father so revered that
he had streets named after him in Venezuela -- Ariana Neumann
willed an adventure to come her way. But nothing could have
prepared her for the true-life story which was to unfold upon her
beloved father’s death, back into the darkest depths of human
history.
Lucidly-written, this is a gripping, heart-wrenching journey back
to wartime Prague and Berlin. Ariana Neumann has written the book
that her remarkable father simply couldn’t.’
*Tom Gross, former Prague and Jerusalem correspondent, Sunday
Telegraph*
‘Remarkable...Through painstaking, meticulous research Neumann
tells the true story-part memoir, part history-of her
heart-wrenching and ultimately life-affirming journey in uncovering
her family's long hidden past.’
*Georgia Hunter, New York Times bestselling author of We Were the
Lucky Ones*
‘Ariana Neumann's beautiful, meticulously researched memoir is an
extraordinarily moving story of a family’s lost history, a father’s
well-kept secret, and a daughter who pieces it all together with
courage, tenacity, and most of all, love.’
*Dani Shapiro*
‘When Time Stopped is Ariana Neumann’s journey of discovery,
lyrically set down in this truly exceptional book. She
shines an intimate light upon a time unique in its horror, and
tells a story of bravery, and rare survival. Yet the events she
describes happened more than two decades before she was born. To a
man to whom she was very close, but whose secrets she was only able
to pursue after his death - thanks to the one hoard of evidence he
never destroyed. This is a work of very great talent.’
*Jon Snow, journalist and Channel 4 television presenter.*
‘Grippingly readable, chillingly sad but above all deeply
sympathetic and suffused with love and understanding
throughout. A compelling and humane portrait of
Ariana Neumann’s father and his courageous decision to
survive.’
*Anne Sebba, bestselling biographer and historian*
‘When Time Stopped is a remarkable and beautifully written
book. Hans Neumann's story is astonishing, confirming that when it
comes to the Holocaust we should expect only the unexpected. This
is one of the most powerful and profoundly moving family stories of
the Holocaust to have been published in many years and a must
read.’
*Professor Dan Stone, Professor of Modern History and Director,
Holocaust Research Institute, Royal Holloway, University of
London*
'Profound, gripping, and gut-wrenching…This heartbreaking and
unforgettable memoir belongs in every library for the important
history Neumann unearths. Like Anne Frank's diary, it offers a
story that needs to be told and heard.'
*Booklist (Starred Review)*
'Neumann debuts with a deeply moving account of her father’s life
during the Holocaust… This gripping, expertly researched narrative
will inspire those looking to uncover their own family
histories.'
*Publishers Weekly*
'[An] astonishing story of survival … Neumann’s eloquent,
skillfully researched book will appeal to many, especially those
interested in family histories and the lives of Holocaust
survivors.'
*Library Journal*
'I’ve read countless memoirs. I’ve read hundreds of books about the
Holocaust and mysteries and detective stories and rigorously
researched tomes of history and psychological studies of the
effects of trauma. But never in my reading life have I ever come
across anything akin to this magical, brilliant, and gripping work
of art.'
*Deborah Copaken, author of The Red Book*
'Through her painstaking work Neumann takes lifeless fragments
ensuring her family's obscurity, and magically brings them back to
life in this carefully woven beautifully written
tapestry. This is a work of resistance against oblivion, a
reminder against forgetting, an investigation driven by true
love.'
*Stephen D. Smith, PhD, Executive Director of the USC Shoah
Foundation*
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