Tuesday, January 18, 2011

Fascinating Debut Novel. . .

With my current interest in fiction set in Germany, this new debut novel - The History of History by Ida Hattemer-Higgins - looks fascinating and I hope to get to it soon.  The Guardian just ran this piece calling Hattemer-Higgins "one to watch", and it sent me to the author's website where she writes about her inspiration for the book which she describes as, "a single scream, one long lament for the tragedy of unbearable memory."  She worked as a tour guide at the concentration camp memorial of Sachsenhausen and her encounter with a tourist searching for his family's history triggered an emotional response that led to her writing this novel about memory and amnesia, both on a personal and national level.

No comments: