The Fire and the Bonfire: A journey into memory

Summary

How is the baton of experience passed from generation to generation? What is transmitted? Ardyn Halter explores the legacy of his late father Roman Halter's experiences of the Holocaust. What is received by the "Second Generation" and how can it be expressed in language or art? A journey to Rwanda to complete a commission to commemorate the Rwandan genocide, and a journey to Poland. The Fire and the Bonfire reveals a close - though also difficult - father-son relationship and explores genocide through art, which leads to unexpected discoveries.

"This is a book that needs to be read more than once. Ardyn Halter has written about an agonizingly difficult subject with a painter's eye, a novelist's sense of pace and suspense, a philosophical mind - and he has done it superbly." - Hillel Halkin

"...this is powerful. Raw and incredibly sad. Your clear eye and honesty had me gasping for breath at times." - Fergal Keane 

"A hugely eloquent, painfully honest and insightful text... A work of art to be savoured in its own right." - Monica Bohm-Duchen