THE PENDULUM
by Julie Lindahl

"The Pendulum is a powerful, painfully human and honest work of words and heart...Beautiful in the writing sense, horrific in reflection upon all the lives.”
– James Wine, Poet, Writer and Filmmaker

IN THE MEDIA 

Read Julie Lindahl's article at Wellesley Magazine, "The Hidden Truth" (Spring 2017)

November 2017-January 2018: Julie Lindahl collaborated with WBUR/National Public Radio on the program series "Beyond Sides of History" which won both the 2018 Edward R. Murrow award for excellence in innovation and the 2018 Associated Press Media Editor's award for innovation in storytelling.

See https://www.julielindahl.com/events--media.html for further media concerning The Pendulum.

October 2018: The Pendulum was released in an expanded version by US publisher Rowman & Littlefield.

Spring 2019: The Pendulum  was released in an expanded version by Swedish publisher Norstedts.

Is it possible to draw a line under history, particularly when that history involves our families? If we accept that there are certain essential things about the past that cannot be spoken of, does that impact us and the generations that follow? If we choose to delve into that history, are we prepared to face the consequences?

These are among the issues taken up by The Pendulum, an auto­biographical account of a Brazilian-born granddaughter who faces each of these questions, and eventually finds that she has no choice but to look into her family’s past and the part it played in National Socialism and the SS.

With this book, Lindahl demonstrates why, within the vast majority of families seventy years after the end of the Second World War, the painful work of facing the past has only just begun.

HOW TO ORDER THE PENDULUM
Out of print. This book was republished in an expanded version by US publisher Rowman & Littlefield in 2018 and Swedish publisher Norstedts in 2019. See www.julielindahl.com for further information.

About the book

"I have just finished The Pendulum by Julie Lindahl. It is a deeply moving and mind-spinning autobiographical novel by one of the most righteous and bravest women today… It has taken a rare combination of personal relentless thirst for the truth and high moral and professional integrity as a historian-novelist for her to painstakingly unearth the terrible Nazi past of her grandfather in Second World War Poland."
– Piroska Nagy-Mohacsi, Programme Director, Institute of Global Affairs, The London School of Economics

I cannot remember a book in which a family member relates her experiences concerning the story of her family during that period of history so perceptively, intuitively and courageously. I have devoted a considerable part of my life to shedding light on the regional history of my home. So far I have not met anyone from your generation who has described the reverberations of that terrible Darwinism, this “Herrenmensch” orientation, and its overwhelming consequences so intensively. I thank you with all my heart.
Gerhard Hoch, Distinguished Historian of National
Socialism in Schleswig-Holstein and Theologian (1923-2015)

“I opened “The Pendulum”, and immediately found myself drawn into it. As a historian, I often wondered how academics could profit from the determined pursuit of haunted family stories by descendents of individual perpetrators – which already forms a branch of its own of WWII and Holocaust literature. Here’s the breathtaking answer.”
– Jochen Böhler, Historian of the German Occupation of Poland (1939-45) and the Perpetrators of the Holocaust, Friedrich-Schiller University, Jena

“Truths that can’t be questioned, redefined or reimagined. They are the authority. The Pendulum reminds us that you can become trapped in your own version of the truth or your myth about yourself or society. Then when you cannot reconcile that truth with the reality around you, your last defence is to cling to it at all costs.”
– Cecilia Nordström, Director of Operations, Tällberg Foundation

“Lindahl’s book provides a gut-wrenchingly honest account of an individual’s search for the truth about her family’s history, while suggesting some best practices for all historians.  Is the truth as simple as an objective account of history?  And is this even a realistic goal that is possible to achieve?  These are just a few of the questions that Lindahl poses through her journey to write The Pendulum.”
– Amy Stern, 9th Grade Teacher, History and Writing Workshop,
Curriculum Facilitator grades 5-9, Humanities, Rippowam Cisqua School, New York
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Papilio’s concept is to develop unique stories of high quality that move, inform and entertain readers. The Pendulum is one of those. For queries please e-mail [email protected].