SynopsisSeven Palms tells the story of the Thomas Mann House in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood in Los Angeles--the house in which the legendary German writer and his family passed their period of wartime exile between 1942 and 1952. Author Francis Nenik presents a detailed history of the house based on extensive archival research, narrating episodes from the Mann family's life in Los Angeles and introducing some new characters to the story--the people who built the house and worked in it. Recent photographs by Sebastian Stumpf offer a contemporary visual counterpoint to this history. In January 2017, Stumpf gained access to the vacant property, which had recently been bought by the German government, and captured it in an in-between state--deserted, and with little to suggest its illustrious former residents, but on the cusp of government-backed preservation., The story of Thomas Mann's Pacific Palisades home-in-exile, in text and pictures Writer Francis Nenik narrates the history of the Thomas Mann House in Los Angeles' Pacific Palisades neighborhood, and the years that Thomas Mann and his family lived in it, during the author's 1942-52 period of exile in the US. Basing his work on extensive archival research, Nenik not only recounts episodes from the Mann family's life but also introduces characters who have hitherto been largely unknown--the people who built the house and worked in it. The colorful story of the house, its builders and its famous inhabitants unfolds in dialogue with a series of photographs by Sebastian Stumpf showing the house as it was in January 2017, just after it had been bought by the German government--vacant, deserted and with little to suggest that the Mann family had once lived there., The story of Thomas Mann s Pacific Palisades home-in-exile, in text and pictures Writer Francis Nenik narrates the history of the Thomas Mann House in Los Angeles Pacific Palisades neighborhood, and the years that Thomas Mann and his family lived in it, during the author s 1942 52 period of exile in the US. Basing his work on extensive archival research, Nenik not only recounts episodes from the Mann family s life but also introduces characters who have hitherto been largely unknown the people who built the house and worked in it. The colorful story of the house, its builders and its famous inhabitants unfolds in dialogue with a series of photographs by Sebastian Stumpf showing the house as it was in January 2017, just after it had been bought by the German government vacant, deserted and with little to suggest that the Mann family had once lived there., This volume tells the story of the Thomas Mann House in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood in Los Angeles--the house in which the legendary German writer and his family passed their period of wartime exile between 1942 and 1952.1952.