Melting Point: Family, Memory and the Search for a Promised Land

For fans of Philippe Sands and Edmund de Waal, this genre-bending family memoir charts the forgotten moment when 10,000 Russian Jews fled to Galveston, Texas - led by Rachel Cockerell's great-grandfather.

On June 7th 1907, a ship packed with Russian Jews sets sail not to Jerusalem or New York, as many on board have dreamt, but to Texas. The man who persuades the passengers to go is David Jochelmann, Rachel Cockerell's great-grandfather. It marks the beginning of the Galveston Movement, a forgotten moment in history when 10,000 Jews fled to Texas in the lead-up to WWI.

The charismatic leader of the movement is Jochelmann's closest friend, Israel Zangwill, whose novels have made him famous across Europe and America. As Eastern Europe becomes infected by anti-Semitic violence, Zangwill embarks on a desperate search across the continents for a temporary homeland: from Australia to Canada, Angola to Antarctica. He reluctantly settles on Galveston, Texas. He fears the Jewish people will be absorbed into the great American melting pot, but there is no other hope.

In a highly inventive style, Cockerell uses exclusively source material to capture history as it unfolds, weaving together letters, diaries, memoirs, newspaper articles and interviews into a vivid account of those who were there. Melting Point follows Zangwill and the Jochelmann family through two world wars, to London, New York and Jerusalem - as their lives intertwine with some of the most memorable figures of the twentieth century, and each chooses whether to cling to their history or melt into their new surroundings. It is a story that asks what it means to belong, and what can be salvaged from the past.

Review

ingenious ... wonderfully vital and idiosyncratic, a model of how history writing can be made fresh ... an innovative and immediate account of a story that has world-historical significance. ― The Guardian

A fabulous family history ... Cockerell has an unerring eye for selecting, editing and juxtaposing the most revealing quotations. So the result feels deeply immersive and dramatic. One gets a thrilling sense of history unfolding in real time, of people confused and flailing about in response to immediate events without any sense of what we know now. An exceptionally vivid and compelling family history. ― The Observer

A truly radical book; radical in subject, radical in form. For the most tragic Reasons, it could not feel more immediate; and yet it's a fluid, fast-paced, hugely enjoyable and engaging read. -- Andrew Marr

Meticulously researched, elegantly constructed, unforgettable -- Jonathan Freedland, author of The Escape Artist

Vividly told, rigorously researched ― Jewish Chronicle

A fascinating saga, full of unexpected twists and encounters ranging across continents, compellingly told through contemporary snippets and insights. A bold and surprisingly successful formula -- Adam Zamoyski, author of Napoleon and Poland: A History

At a time when there is so much false history and misleading mythology about Israel and Zionism, this gripping account of Jews seeking sanctuary from Europe's deadly antisemitism is a timely and necessary work that deserves to be widely read. Their desperation, hope, idealism and determination to survive leaves a profound sense of a people in need of a home, wherever they could find one. -- Dave Rich, author of Everyday Hate

Rachel Cockerell has crafted a superbly original work of narrative history - an epic tale of memory and migration. It would be difficult to read this superb book and remain unmoved. -- Francisco Garcia, author of We All Go Into the Dark

Strikingly original ... Cockerell succeeds admirably in her stated intention to tell this little-known story in a way that is more like a novel than a work of history. ― The Bookseller

About the Author

Rachel Cockerell was born and raised in London, the sixth of seven children. She did her BA at the Courtauld Institute and her MA at City University.

Melting Point is her first non-fiction book. Her research has taken her to Texas, Ohio, New York, Tel Aviv and Jerusalem.