Bibliograph

The blindness of the heart, Julia Franck ; translated from the German by Anthea Bell

Type

Label

The blindness of the heart, Julia Franck ; translated from the German by Anthea Bell

Language

eng

Index

no index present

Literary Form

fiction

Main title

The blindness of the heart

Oclc number

587153851

Responsibility statement

Julia Franck ; translated from the German by Anthea Bell

Summary

A story spanning two world wars and several generations in a German family. In the devastating opening scene, a woman named Helene stands with her seven-year-old son in a provincial German railway station in 1945, amid the chaos of civilians fleeing west. Having survived with him through the horror and deprivation of the war years, she abandons him on the station platform and never returns. The story quickly circles back to Helene's childhood with her sister Martha in rural Germany, which came to an abrupt end with the outbreak of the First World War. Their father is sent to the eastern front, and their Jewish mother withdraws from the hostility of her surroundings into a state of mental confusion. As we follow Helene into adulthood, we watch riveted as the costs of survival and ill-fated love turn her into a woman capable of the unforgivable

Target audience

adult

Contributor