Tony Rocca

Books behind my Byline

                                                              BY TONY ROCCA

I was born near Manchester in the north of England, where I grew up and joined a local newspaper at the age of seventeen. I graduated to the Daily Mail  in London where I spent ten years doing many editorial jobs, including a spell as New York correspondent. Then followed a further ten years in London with The Sunday Times as a reporter, feature-writer and foreign correspondent. My fifteen minutes of fame came with the demise of Now!  magazine which suddenly become Then!  (it folded on the very morning I joined). Next came a brief period as features editor of the Mail on Sunday  and several years freelancing from the South of France before Mira and I left for Italy and our adventure in Tuscany. My articles have appeared in most British national newspapers as well as The New York Times  and  Reader's Digest.  

Memories of Eden

        Edited by Mira and Tony Rocca                         

        Edited by Mira and Tony Rocca                        

 

 A memoir of old Baghdad



Imagine a world with no running water or electricity, scorching heat and the constant fear of cholera. 

Imagine a warren of alleys no wider than a cart. Cows are being milked on doorsteps, street barbers are giving shaves, pulling teeth and lancing boils. Barefoot water-sellers are bent double under their heavy goatskins. 

It is 1912 and we are in old Baghdad. To us it sounds like hell. Yet Violette Shamash, born into an affluent family, adored its positive side: sleeping under the stars, hearing the call of the nightingale, smelling scents of gardenias and spices, riding to school on donkey-back.

 For Mira's mother it was a kind of Eden.

 Violette was a privileged witness to a time when nearly 40% of Baghdad was Jewish and Jews, Moslems and Christians embraced each other's differences. Her insights into domestic life, and a society coming to terms with the 20th century, are candid, entertaining, and often very amusing. However, disaster struck the oldest community in the Diaspora.  In 1941 a brutal massacre took place over two days of rioting that sounded the death-knell for the Jews of Babylon.

  Violette's book not only provides a unique insight into the culture and customs of the Jews of Iraq but also shows everyday life as experienced by everyone at a time when Baghdadis lived together side by side, in mutual respect, irrespective of religion. 

It is based on notes and little essays she wrote to the editors over a period of twenty years.

Since our book was first published in England in 2008 and enjoyed sales worldwide it has been reproduced for the North American market by Northwestern University Press in hardback, paperback and e-book form.

https://www.amazon.com/s?k=memories+of+eden&i=stripbooks-intl-ship&ref=nb_sb_noss

It has also been translated into Hebrew and most recently, Arabic, with great success. Now it is with great pleasure that we can announce the availability of a new, improved, Kindle version in colour with many additional illustrations joining the old photographs that have been colourised. The effect of this technology is startling: the story comes to life in a special way which is most rewarding. Additionally, I have added some new information to the section "Behind the Farhud" that has come to light since first publication. All this, at the greatly reduced price of £7……..

https://www.amazon.co.uk/s?k=memories+of+eden&i=digital-text&ref=nb_sb_noss

                            www.memoriesofeden.com

                            www.memoriesofeden.com

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