Rachel Cockerell: Melting Point

On 7 June 1907, a ship packed with Russian Jews sets sail not to Jerusalem or New York, but to Texas.

Desperate to find a temporary homeland as Eastern Europe became infected by antisemitic violence, they were led by Rachel Cockerell’s great grandfather David Jochelmann and his best friend Israel Zangwill. This marked the beginning of the Galveston Movement, a forgotten moment in history in the lead-up to WWI.

Melting Point is a debut work of genre-bending non-fiction following two families through both world wars, to London, New York and Jerusalem in a story that asks what it means to belong, and what can be salvaged from the past.

Join Rachel to uncover her highly inventive style, exclusive source materials and how she captured history as it unfolded. In conversation with Michaela Kalowski.