The Good at Heart
A Novel
(Sprache: Englisch)
Based on the author's discoveries about her great-grandfather, this stunning debut novel takes place over three days when World War 2 comes to the doorstep of an ordinary German family living in an idyllic, rural village near the Swiss border.
Jetzt vorbestellen
versandkostenfrei
Buch (Gebunden)
32.90 €
- Lastschrift, Kreditkarte, Paypal, Rechnung
- Kostenlose Rücksendung
Produktdetails
Produktinformationen zu „The Good at Heart “
Based on the author's discoveries about her great-grandfather, this stunning debut novel takes place over three days when World War 2 comes to the doorstep of an ordinary German family living in an idyllic, rural village near the Swiss border.
Klappentext zu „The Good at Heart “
Based on the author's discoveries about her great-grandfather, this stunning debut novel takes place over three days when World War II comes to the doorstep of an ordinary German family living in an idyllic, rural village near the Swiss border.When World War II breaks out, Edith and Oskar Eberhardt move their family-their daughter, Marina; son-in-law, Franz; and their granddaughters-out of Berlin and into a small house in the quiet town of Blumental, near Switzerland. A member of Hitler's cabinet, Oskar is gone most of the time, and Franz begins fighting in the war, so the women of the house are left to their quiet lives in the picturesque village.
But life in Blumental isn't as idyllic as it appears. An egotistical Nazi captain terrorizes the citizens he's assigned to protect. Neighbors spy on each other. Some mysteriously disappear. Marina has a lover who also has close ties to her family and the government. Thinking none of them share her hatred of the Reich, she joins a Protestant priest smuggling Jewish refugees over the nearby Swiss border. The latest "package" is two Polish girls who've lost the rest of their family, and against her better judgment, Marina finds she must hide them in the Eberhardt's cellar. Everything is set to go smoothly until Oskar comes home with the news that the Führer will be visiting the area for a concert, and he will be making a house call on the Eberhardts.
Based on the author's discoveries about her great-grandfather, this extraordinary debut, full of love, tragedy, and suspense, is a sensitive portrait of a family torn between doing their duty for their country and doing what's right for their country, and especially for those they love.
Lese-Probe zu „The Good at Heart “
The day the German army opened fire on its own citizens in Blumental was the day of Pimpanella's miracle. It was a cool summer morning, with the first promise of sun after four drizzly, cold days. Rosie woke early, hopped out of bed, and ran downstairs. Ever since she turned five, she had been allowed to check for eggs in the henhouse. She loved crawling into the small plywood hutch that housed the four chickens, reaching into each nest, and gently wiggling her fingers between the straw and the burlap, feeling around for that small, smooth oval, still warm from being under the hen's puffed chest, the shell slightly soft.Rosie also loved the hens, Pimpanella especially. Spindly little Pimpanella was the closest thing Rosie had to a pet; she was the only chicken who did not peck at Rosie's feet in the outhouse. And Rosie protected Pimpanella against her grandfather. The last time Opa was home from Berlin, he declared Pimpanella useless because she had never been able to produce an egg. "A poor excuse for a fowl," he called her. He chased Pimpanella around the yard with a stewpot lid, yelling at her to pull herself together and do her part for the war effort.
This morning, Rosie crawled up the short ladder and crept into the dusty coop. She made her way around the circle of nests: first Nina (one egg), then Rosamunde (also one), then Hanni (none, but she had a habit of laying her eggs any old place), and finally Pimpanella. Rosie's older sisters, Lara and Sofia, didn't even check Pimpanella's nest anymore because in the entire year they'd had her, they had never found anything. But Rosie had faith in Pimpanella, even if no one else did. You had to believe, Rosie thought. You had to believe in good things because there were too many bad things to scare you if you didn't. Like when you saw soldiers with only half a face at the bakery in Berlin. Or when you saw the soldiers missing an arm or a leg. Or both.
Rosie gently patted Pimpanella's entire nest, starting
... mehr
at the side nearest to her. Nothing. Undiscouraged, she started over, this time digging down a bit deeper with her fingers. Halfway through, on the edge of the tamped-down hay where Pimpanella usually sat, there it was-an egg, buried under about three centimeters of straw. Then, to Rosie's surprise and delight, she found another, right next to the first one. Two eggs! Twins!
It was a glorious day. Rosie would have to remember to bring Pimpanella some carrot tops as a special treat. For now, she gathered all the eggs up carefully in her pajama top and walked back uphill to the house. The small square building stood at the northern end of their property, right by the road that ran along the train tracks into town. Its stucco walls held layers of ivy and honeysuckle, which wound their way around the blackened oak window frames up to a clay tile roof. Given the green cloak of these vines, and how tiny the house was compared to the vast garden surrounding it, anyone passing by the property along the lake path to the south might overlook the structure altogether.
For the Eberhardt family, however, the house was enough. Though cramped, it could hold five people, sometimes six or seven if Rosie's father came home from the eastern front, or if her grandfather came south from his job in Berlin. The last time Rosie's father was home, he was so skinny he looked like a ghost, and he woke up every night screaming. He didn't stay long. The war wanted him back.
When Rosie entered the kitchen, it was empty except for the smell of warm bread. She deposited the eggs in the basket on the table. From the big hand on the clock, she knew she was late.
Rosie ran outside to the front of the house, where Sofia was waiting for her. The 8:00 a.m. tr
It was a glorious day. Rosie would have to remember to bring Pimpanella some carrot tops as a special treat. For now, she gathered all the eggs up carefully in her pajama top and walked back uphill to the house. The small square building stood at the northern end of their property, right by the road that ran along the train tracks into town. Its stucco walls held layers of ivy and honeysuckle, which wound their way around the blackened oak window frames up to a clay tile roof. Given the green cloak of these vines, and how tiny the house was compared to the vast garden surrounding it, anyone passing by the property along the lake path to the south might overlook the structure altogether.
For the Eberhardt family, however, the house was enough. Though cramped, it could hold five people, sometimes six or seven if Rosie's father came home from the eastern front, or if her grandfather came south from his job in Berlin. The last time Rosie's father was home, he was so skinny he looked like a ghost, and he woke up every night screaming. He didn't stay long. The war wanted him back.
When Rosie entered the kitchen, it was empty except for the smell of warm bread. She deposited the eggs in the basket on the table. From the big hand on the clock, she knew she was late.
Rosie ran outside to the front of the house, where Sofia was waiting for her. The 8:00 a.m. tr
... weniger
Autoren-Porträt von Ursula Werner
Werner, Ursula Ursula Werner is a writer and attorney currently living in Washington, DC, with her family. Born in Germany and raised in South Florida, she has practiced law while continuing her creative writing, publishing two books of poetry, In the Silence of the Woodruff (2006) and Rapunzel Revisited (2010). The Good at Heart is her first novel.
Bibliographische Angaben
- Autor: Ursula Werner
- 2017, 320 Seiten, Maße: 14,6 x 22,1 cm, Gebunden, Englisch
- Verlag: Atria Books
- ISBN-10: 1501147579
- ISBN-13: 9781501147579
- Erscheinungsdatum: 09.02.2017
Sprache:
Englisch
Pressezitat
"In this delightfully written debut, the Eberhardt women, Edith and Marina, work tirelessly to protect their children from war in the bucolic German countryside. But nothing can protect them from the fact that they are Nazis. With Grandpa Oskar about to bring the Fuhrer to visit, tension rises and there will be a price to pay for the denial, the guilt and the sometimes impossible choice between family and morality." Helen Simonson, author of Major Pettigrew's Last Stand and The Summer Before the War
Kommentar zu "The Good at Heart"
Schreiben Sie einen Kommentar zu "The Good at Heart".
Kommentar verfassen