A prize-winning Dutch journalist's unsparing memoir of growing up amid the excesses, triumphs, and devastation of post-World War II Europe. What can a son say upon discovering that his father wore a Nazi uniform? Reporter Alexander Münninghoff was only four when he found this mortifying relic from his father's recent past in his attic. This shameful memento came to symbolize not only his father's tragically misguided allegiance but also a shattered marriage and ultimately the unconscionable separation of a mother and son. In this revelatory memoir, the author confronts his parents' complex past as he reconstructs the fortunes and disillusions of an entire family upheaved during the changes of twentieth-century Europe. The Münninghoffs were driven by greed, rebellion, and rage. An embattled dynasty, they were torn between the right and the wrong side of history. Their saga haunted Alexander's life for the next seventy years. Only in reconciling with them can this man find the courage to move forward as son and heir to the startling legacy of a flawed yet grand tradition.

An “original and moving” (The New York Times Book Review), “must-read” (People) portrait of an unforgettable, patrician Manhattan family and the tangled nature of inheritance and legacy, from the author of Like Mother, Like Mother “An absorbing page-turner, full of sex and secrets . . . I loved getting to know the entire Falkes clan.”—New York Times bestselling author Emma Straub AN NPR BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR When English-born lawyer Rupert Falkes dies, his wife and five adult sons are bereft—even more so when six months later, their grieving is interrupted by an unknown woman suing Rupert’s estate, claiming that he was also the father to her two sons. The Falkes brothers are pitched into turmoil, at once missing their father and feeling betrayed by him. In disconcerting contrast, their mother, Eleanor, is cool and calm, showing preternatural composure. Eleanor and Rupert had made an admirable life together, and they were proud of their handsome, talented sons: Harry, a brash law professor; Will, a savvy Hollywood agent; Sam, an astute doctor and scientific researcher; Jack, a jazz trumpet prodigy; Tom, a public-spirited federal prosecutor. The brothers see their identity and success as inextricably tied to family loyalty—a loyalty they always believed their father shared. Struggling to reclaim their identity, the brothers find Eleanor’s sympathy toward the woman and her sons confounding, and they begin to question whether they knew either of their parents at all.

"Containing cases decided in Sri Lanka (Ceylon) by the Court of Appeal, the Supreme Court and the Court of Criminal Appeal." (varies)