Book cover of A Mad Desire to Dance

Book description

Now in paperback, Wiesel’s newest novel “reminds us, with force, that his writing is alive and strong. The master has once again found a startling freshness.”—Le Monde des Livres
 
A European expatriate living in New York, Doriel suffers from a profound sense of desperation and loss. His mother, a member…

When you buy books, we may earn a commission that helps keep our lights on (or join the rebellion as a member).

Why read it?

1 author picked A Mad Desire to Dance as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

A beautiful novel about Doriel, a European expatriate living in New York, who was a hidden child during the war, while his mother was a member of the Resistance, and who is still haunted by his parents' secrets. A psychoanalyst finally helps him deal with his own ghosts, which reminds me of decades of PTSD I myself inherited from that war and the associated sufferings of family and friends I had to witness.

From Heinz's list on WW2 through the eyes of children.

If you love A Mad Desire to Dance...

Ad

Book cover of Mistress of Life and Death: The Dark Journey of Maria Mandl, Head Overseer of the Women's Camp at Auschwitz-Birkenau

Mistress of Life and Death by Susan J. Eischeid,

A gripping, unflinching biography of SS Overseer Maria Mandl, one of the most notorious and contradictory figures at the heart of the Nazi regime, and her transformation from harmless small-town girl to hardened killer. By the time of her execution at 36, Maria Mandl had achieved the highest rank possible…

Want books like A Mad Desire to Dance?

Our community of 12,000+ authors has personally recommended 100 books like A Mad Desire to Dance.

Browse books like A Mad Desire to Dance

Book cover of All the Light We Cannot See
Book cover of A Boy in Winter
Book cover of The Boy in the Striped Pajamas

Share your top 3 reads of 2025!

And get a beautiful page showing off your 3 favorite reads.

1,277

readers submitted
so far, will you?

Ad

📚 If you like A Mad Desire to Dance, you might also like...

Book cover of Sufferance

Sufferance by Charles Palliser,

This is a novel about choices. How would you have chosen to act during the Second World War if your country had been invaded and occupied by a brutal enemy determined to isolate and murder a whole community?

That’s the situation facing an ordinary family man with two children, a…

Book cover of The Twins of Auschwitz: The inspiring true story of a young girl surviving Mengele's hell

The Twins of Auschwitz by Lisa Rojany,

This is the Inspiring true story of a young girl surviving Mengele’s hell. This is an incisive, harrowing, and touching memoir of Eva Mozes Kor and her twin sister Miriam, who are sent to Auschwitz only to be torn from their parents and given to Josef Mengele, "The Angel of…

5 book lists we think you will like!