The Secrets of the Notebook : A Woman's Quest to Uncover Her Royal Family Secret

"The beautiful owner of this book is dearer to me than my life #8211; August your protector." This one sentence was the key to a mystery involving some of the greatest and most infamous figures in European history, from Frederick the Great to Napoleon and Hitler#8212;and solved by the author of this book. Eve Haas is the daughter of a German Jewish family that took refuge in London after Hitler came to power. Following a terrifying air raid in the blitz, her father revealed the family secret, that her great-great grandmother Emilie was married to a Prussian prince. He then showed her the treasured leather-bound notebook inscribed to Emilie by the prince. Her parents were reluctant to learn more, but later in life, when Eve was married and inherited the diary, she became obsessed with proving this birthright. The Secrets of the Notebook tells how she follows the clues, from experts on European royalty in London to archives in West Germany and then, under threat of being arrested as a spy by the Communist regime, to an archive in East Germany that had never before opened its doors to the West. What she unearths is a love story set against the upheaval of the Napoleonic wars and the antiSemitism of the Prussian court, and a ruse that both protected Emilie's daughter and probably condemned her granddaughter#8212;Eve's beloved grandmother, Anna#8212;to death in the Nazi camps. When first published in the UK, The Secrets of the Notebook was an Irish Times bestseller. A movie based on the book is in production A girl learns she’s descended from a princess in this New York Times–bestselling true story told with the suspense of a Cold War thriller. “The beautiful owner of this book is dearer to me than my life – August your protector.” This one sentence was the key to a mystery involving some of the greatest and most infamous figures in European history, from Frederick the Great to Napoleon and Hitler—and solved by the author of this book . . . Eve Haas is the daughter of a German Jewish family that took refuge in London after Hitler came to power. Following a terrifying air raid in the Blitz, her father revealed the family secret, that her great-great grandmother Emilie was married to a Prussian prince. He then showed her the leather-bound notebook inscribed to Emilie by the prince. Later in life, when Eve was married and inherited the diary, she became obsessed with proving this birthright. The Secrets of the Notebook tells how she follows the clues, from experts on European royalty in London to archives in West Germany and then, under threat of being arrested as a spy by the Communist regime, to an archive in East Germany that had never opened its doors to the West. What she unearths is a love story set against the upheaval of the Napoleonic Wars and the anti-Semitism of the Prussian court, and a ruse that both protected Emilie’s daughter and probably condemned her granddaughter—Eve’s beloved grandmother, Anna—to death in the Nazi camps. A New York Times and international bestseller, The Secrets of the Notebook is now being made into a major motion picture. “A roller-coaster ride full of twists and turns.” —Cherie Blair, founder of the Cherie Blair Foundation for Women and wife of former prime minister Tony Blair “A compelling, inspiring read, beautifully and honestly written.” —John Rutter, CBE, internationally renowned composer and conductor “Fascinating.” —BBC News Magazine Eve was just eight years old when, as a Jewish girl in a Berlin school, the rumblings of the Nazis' rise to power began to threaten everything and everyone she knew. Fortunately, her parents managed to get her family out of Germany and to London to start a new life.The horrors of war were just a part of the past, until the day when Eve inherited a treasured family notebook that hid an amazing secret. Warned against pursuing the truth behind the notebook, Eve set out to discover who her family were, how her great-great-grandmother had married into a royal family, and why her grandmother perished at the hands of the Nazis. Eve was to risk her life to uncover the truth. A New York Times bestseller, the true story of a girl who learns she's descended from a princess, told with the suspense of a Cold War thriller. ""The beautiful owner of this book is dearer to me than my life - August your protector." This one sentence was the key to a mystery involving some of the greatest and most infamous figures in European history, from Frederick the Great to Napoleon and Hitler--and solved by the author of this book. Eve Haas is the daughter of a German Jewish family that took refuge in London after Hitler came to power. Following a terrifying air raid in the blitz, her