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No Place to Lay One's Head Paperback – January 31, 2019

4.3 4.3 out of 5 stars 196 ratings


In 1921, Françoise Frenkel - a Jewish woman from Poland - opens her first bookshop in Berlin. It is a dream come true. The dream lasts nearly two decades. Then suddenly, it ends.

It ends after police confiscations and the Night of Broken Glass, as Jewish shops and businesses are smashed to pieces. It ends when no one protests. So Françoise flees to France, just weeks before war breaks out.

In Paris, on the wireless and in the newspapers, horror has made itself at home. When the city is bombed, Françoise seeks refuge in Avignon, then Nice. She fears she may never see her family again. Nice is awash with refugees and terrible suffering; children are torn from their parents; mothers throw themselves under buses. Horrified by what she sees, Françoise goes into hiding. She survives only because strangers risk their lives to protect her.

Set against the romantic landscapes of Southern France,
No Place to Lay One's Head is a heartbreaking tale of human cruelty and unending kindness; of a woman whose lust for life refuses to leave her, even in her darkest hours.
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Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Pushkin Press (January 31, 2019)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 304 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1782274006
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1782274001
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 8.7 ounces
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6.1 x 0.75 x 7.6 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.3 4.3 out of 5 stars 196 ratings

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Francoise Frenkel
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Customer reviews

4.3 out of 5 stars
196 global ratings

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Top reviews from the United States

  • Reviewed in the United States on December 16, 2019
    Patrick Modiano's preface led me to read this memoir. It is simply told and for that is all the more vivid and moving. Madame Françoise Frenkel's experience and survival (as a Polish-Jewish refugee) through German and Vichy French persecution is, once read, not soon forgotten. Her account of help given by everyday French people in Nice and Annecy makes one realize how many fine acts were undertaken by ordinary people at grave risk to themselves. The priests, nuns, other refugees, the Marius husband and wife-- all of them who helped her survive and escape to Switzerland. (Oddly enough the Marius beauty parlor at 12 rue Saint Philippe in Nice where Mme Frenkel hid is still a beauty parlor today, 75 years later.) It is easy to see why this beautiful memoir (published in 1945 and quickly forgotten) appealed to Modiano when chance discovery brought it to his attention. Mme Frenkel's observations about the beauty of her surroundings even as she struggle with persecution and deep fatigue are refreshingly lovely chapters in her daunting tale of survival. Her description of her refuge in a Catholic convent is one of the most memorable descriptions of rescue one is likely to read -- in a mere six page she creates a sense of atmosphere and protection that is extraordinary.
    5 people found this helpful
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  • Reviewed in the United States on April 10, 2018
    This memoir is written from the beautiful heart that is running for it's life. It shows how deadly and destructive a state power can become.
    4 people found this helpful
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  • Reviewed in the United States on July 2, 2019
    Reads easily. Affects deeply.
    2 people found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

  • Quantum libet
    5.0 out of 5 stars Polish Jew in Nazi-occupied France
    Reviewed in Canada on July 30, 2018
    The book is a fascinating first-person account by a sophisticated Polish Jew who was educated in France and established the first French-language book shop in Germany (Berlin) in the 1930s. Once France fell to the Nazis, life became increasingly dangerous for Jews resident in France. Many of them died, of course, but some with determined and brave help from ordinary French people managed to flee to safety. I do not want to reveal too much, but it is worth adding that the preface and the chronological table at the end of the book convey facts that astounded me.
  • Angela
    5.0 out of 5 stars A Compelling Narrative
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on October 24, 2018
    First published in France under the title Rien où poser sa tête by L'Arbalè Gallimard in 2015, this little book has finally been translated into English and other languages. And not before time in my view. This story has had something of a checkered history. The very first edition appeared in Geneva and was published by J-H Jeheber in 1945. There is only one known review of the book which was published in 1946. So, it is remarkable that this text is still available to us today. Had it not been for a discovery of an original edition of the book at a flea market in Nice a few years ago, this little gem might never come to my, or anyone else's attention.
    Françoise Frenkel, born in Poland in 1889, was of Jewish extraction. She studied at the Sorbonne in Paris and, following her marriage worked in Berlin as a bookseller. She set up her shop in 1921 with the intention of selling only French literature, periodicals and newspapers to the ex-pat community. Her small shop was remarkably successful, to begin with. But as the politics within Germany changed through the 1930's, as the rise of Nazism began to take hold, her business and her own life came under threat.
    She travelled to France in her search for safety, but under the occupation and the divisive Vichy regime, she found no real security. This book, written when she finally made her escape to Switzerland, is an account of her life during France's darkest period of history - Les années noires.
    It's a beautifully written journal, that leaves you in no doubt about the difficulties of living under the Nazi regime - the constant questions and interviews; the constant worry of what or who might be around the next corner; forever looking over one's shoulder and never being sure exactly who you really can trust.
    I found the narrative compelling and I was swept along in the ebb and flow of emotion as Françoise recounted her experiences. At times I had to stop and think and at times her story brought tears to my eyes. It's a gripping personal account and I am especially pleased that that one original copy was found in that particular flea market in Nice.
    One person found this helpful
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  • JohnnyBuoy
    5.0 out of 5 stars Fascinating matter of fact story of survival without embellishment or blame
    Reviewed in Canada on March 31, 2018
    Fascinating matter of fact sketches of years hiding both in full sight and out of sight. Not a complete story as lots of questions arise. This is easily read and leaves the reader to ascribe blame and to wonder at the absurdly cruel circumstances, politics, and rationales of that time contrasted by the extraordinary courage and decency of everyday people.
  • Peter W Barnes
    4.0 out of 5 stars An very interesting book giving a unemotional glimpse as to ...
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on March 4, 2018
    An very interesting book giving a unemotional glimpse as to life in Vichy France 1939-1945 for an undocumented jew! The absence or personal emotion allows the reader toput themself into the author's position and think how they would have coped.
  • Bryony Holyoake
    5.0 out of 5 stars Book.....amazing and educational.....
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on September 11, 2020
    Written as an account “as it happens”. The original account written in 1947, by a woman who experienced first hand the persecution of Jewish people whatever their education, nationality, respectable standing in any community invaded by the Nazis.
    An astonishing find in 2010, a copy of this book found on a flea market.
    The person reading it realised that it was an important historical document.
    This publication is designed to educate, as well as enlighten the curious.
    An explanatory introduction, and literary notes at the end.
    For all who are interested and students.
    For someone who loves books, this author, a book shop owner, her experiences of threat, of all those people who risked themselves to help her, her gratitude spoken of throughout, essential reading.
    I finished reading, wanting to know more, “what happened next”, and full of more respect than ever for ordinary people who value human beings for the person they are.
    This book reflects a true, often unexpected picture, of one woman’s life during Nazi oppression.
    If this was fiction, it might seem far fetched.
    Not fiction. True diligent hard working people endeavouring to preserve dignity, democracy, humanity.