Helen Fremont is an award-winning author and essayist. She wrote the critically-acclaimed, national best-selling book, After Long Silence. Her latest book, The Escape Artist, was selected as an “Editor’s Choice” new book by The New York Times in 2020.
The Escape Artist
Selected by People Magazine as a “Best New Book“ in 2020.
New York Times listed as “Editor’s Choice“ in 2020.
Winner of the Audiophile Earphone Award.
Selected by BookPage as a “Reader’s Choice” best book of 2020.
A luminous family memoir from the author of the critically acclaimed national bestseller, After Long Silence, lauded as “mesmerizing” (The Washington Post Book World), “extraordinary” (The Philadelphia Inquirer), and “a triumphant work of art” (Publishers Weekly, starred review).
In the tradition of Alison Bechdel’s Fun Home or George Hodgman’s Bettyville, Fremont writes with wit and candor about growing up in a household held together by a powerful glue: secrets. Her parents, profoundly affected by their memories of the Holocaust, pass on to both Helen and her older sister a penchant for keeping their lives neatly, even obsessively compartmentalized, and a zealous determination to protect themselves from what they see as danger from the outside world.
Selected by BookPage as one of the “Most Anticipated Nonfiction Books of 2020” (starred review)
Read the New York Times Book Review.
Read the Washington Post Book Review.
Winner of Audiofile Earphones Award.
Advanced Praise for The Escape Artist
“…Beautifully written, honest, and psychologically astute. A must read.”
“A riveting exploration of trauma and its aftermath.”
“The Escape Artist does what the best memoirs do by forcing readers out of their own comfy shoes and into those of another human being. By the time Helen Fremont returned me to my own life at book’s end, I found it had been both shaken and expanded by hers. Isn’t this why we read?”
“A wrenching, riveting memoir… With hard-won clarity and compassion, Fremont shows herself to be a teller of complex truths and a literary artist.”
“A humane, honest, eviscerating but entertaining exploration of intimate betrayal, the legacy of secrets, and the high cost of truth-telling… powerful and utterly engrossing.”
“A stunner of a family memoir – a harrowing, sometimes mordantly funny account of the wages of secrecy bred of war and dislocation… a page-turner of uncommon valor.”
“Powerful … a shattering account of growing up in a family that has survived genocide.”
Featured Book: After Long Silence
“To this day, I don’t even know what my mother’s real name is.” Helen Fremont was raised as a Roman Catholic. It wasn’t until she was an adult, practicing law in Boston, that she discovered her parents were Jewish – Holocaust survivors living invented lives. Not even their names were their own. In this powerful memoir, Helen Fremont delves into the secrets that held her family in a bond of silence for more than four decades, recounting with heartbreaking clarity a remarkable tale of survival, as vivid as fiction but with the resonance of truth.
News and Events
RJ Julia Bookstore Conversation with Helen Epstein
May 9, 2022
Helen Fremont interviews Helen Epstein about her two latest books.
Join us for a Zoom conversation with Helen Fremont and Helen Epstein about Epstein’s new books, Getting Through It and Franci’s War.
Monday, May 9, 2022
7:00 p.m.
Click here to register.
Virtual Book Discussion – Fremont, Lembersky, & Shalmiyev
April 6, 2022
Join Helen Fremont in conversation with Yelena Lembersky and Sophia Shalmiyev in a discussion of their memoirs at 7:30 p.m. Registration is required.
Join Helen Fremont in conversation with Yelena Lembersky and Sophia Shalmiyev in a discussion of their memoirs,
Like a Drop of Ink in a Downpour and Mother Winter.
Wednesday, April 6, 2022
7:30 p.m. EDT
Registration is required – click here for more information.
Jews Love to Read! Gala Book Giveaway
January 30, 2022
Join us all day Sunday, January 30, 2022 for a celebration of the Facebook Group "Jews Love to Read!"
Join us all day Sunday, January 30, 2022 for a celebration of the anniversary of Facebook Group “Jews Love to Read!” Converse with authors, win free books and other items. You must be a member of the group to participate, but all are welcome to join. Click here for more information.
