THE FIGHT FOR FREEDOM

• An amazing accomplishment: some 2500 years of human history are described in a clear, precise manner - thousands of pieces in that vast jigsaw are set into a coherent whole.
• It is a fascinating read and has helped me appreciate how much blood and sweat has been split over the centuries for the freedoms I currently enjoy and how they can so easily be lost again.
• A very smooth and interesting read… I could only wish that schools had books like this in my day. Highly recommended for all today's students. Ferrar’s masterly work has made a great contribution to the literature of freedom.
• Fight for Freedom strikes an excellent balance between a historical overview, accounts of individual struggles, and insights into the significance of events. I thoroughly enjoyed the whole book.
• It is a masterly overview of 2500 years of mankind's struggle for freedom, written with great clarity and a grasp of historical perspective that is at all times impressive.
• This extremely readable book is well researched and objective; it gives a comprehensive picture of worldwide freedom struggles through history.
• I would thoroughly recommend this book to every reader.

THE BUDAPEST HOUSE: A Life Rediscovered

Review Oxford Times January 2013

Memories of Conflict

Maggie Hartford talks to a foreign correspondent-turned-author about his new book, which unravels the family history of the wife of an ex-colleague.

Read full article here

• Inspiring ... an enthralling book which I highly recommend.
  
• A riveting read at various levels ... Not at all a dry historical book as the personal touches bring the story alive. Thoroughly recommended!
  
• Weaves together beautifully broad historical events with those of a family and their home in a book which is a sober reminder of the fragility of civilisation.
  
• Marcus Ferrar's succinct ability to shed light into its dark corners with a compassionate eye has been a revelation.
  
• This book has a particular sort of soul-searching round important questions of history; community and when it is lost; and home – internal and external... The story is lightly told, with an author whose voice one trusts.
  
• Marcus Ferrar has brought all his expertise and skill into weaving together a story that morphs seamlessly from personal details about his central character, a Hungarian Jew seeking her roots, to a spellbinding history of Hungary from 1936 to the present day. He paints a vivid picture of a society ill at ease with its history having fought on the wrong side of most wars and now adjusting to the expectations of a united, if not always friendly, Europe. The Budapest House is real and within its fabric contains trauma, love and longing. The result is a beautifully written narrative that is a delight to read.
  
• The former Reuters correspondent weaves together beautifully broad historical events with those of a family and their home in a book which is a sober reminder of the fragility of civilisation.

A FOOT in BOTH CAMPS: a German Past for Better and for Worse

This lucidly-written book bridges the gap between Britain and Germany with scrupulous analysis and humane sympathy. It is an elegantly concise view of Anglo-German history set in the realities of personal and family existence.

Jim Reed, Emeritus Professor of German Language and Literature,
University of Oxford

Your mother seems a remarkable woman. It's good to see a British book about Germany that takes a positive view!

Professor Sir Richard Evans FBA, University of Cambridge

In this engaging book, Marcus Ferrar combines a personal memoir with a well-informed grasp of the history of both countries and their attitudes towards each other over the past century.

Iain R. Smith, Emeritus Reader in History, University of Warwick

SLOVENIA 1945: Memories of Death and Survival After World War II

• It presents us with a range of individuals as vividly seen and as sharply characterised as the multifarious inhabitants of War and Peace or A Dance to the Music of Time – 'Book of the Year' choice by John Bayley, literary critic,
  Times Literary Supplement, December 2005
• An accessible, engaging read – The Catholic Herald
• This excellent book …raises a number of questions of profound historical and moral interest – The Tablet
• Part of a healing process …it is inspiring – The Friend
• It is right …that we too remember the tragedy which befell the Slovene people
  – Jack Straw, British Foreign Secretary
• Impossible to put down – Cardinal Aloysius Ambrožič, Archbishop of Toronto
• A wealth of precise information and balanced judgments presented in a clear and pleasant style – Cardinal Franc Rode, Vatican