Ursula Hegi delves into themes of identity, memory, and the intricate connection between the past and the present. Her prose frequently explores the complexities of human relationships and the enduring impact of family secrets on individuals. Hegi crafts rich, atmospheric worlds where personal histories intersect with broader societal forces. Her style is distinguished by its keen attention to detail and profound psychological insight.
Ursula Hegi grew up in Germany and moved to the United States at age eighteen. As she grew older and raised a family, questions about her roots and her native land haunted her until, at last, she felt compelled to write about them. Tearing the Silence brings together her interviews with dozens of German-born Americans, and their confrontations with the taboo of the Holocaust.
Three people, friends since childhood. Two sets of lovers, betraying the other. One line, that shouldn't be crossed.
The bestselling author of "Stones from the River" breaks the silence which has haunted the lives of postwar German immigrants to tell the one story of the Holocaust readers have not been privy to--the legacy of shame and grief that shadows a people that can neither escape nor embrace its national heritage.
A moving account of Hanna Malter, a young girl growing up in a small town in Germany in the 1950s, a time when Adolf Hitler isn't mentioned in history classes--or by anyone in town.
Exploring the complexities of love in its various forms, this collection delves into familial, parental, and romantic relationships. Ursula Hegi employs compassionate storytelling and vivid language to illuminate her characters' struggles, allowing them to confront and rise above despair. The narratives reflect on themes of life and death, youth and age, and the contrast between achieved aspirations and unexpected joys, offering a profound examination of the human experience in its most impactful moments.
Brilliantly stretching literary conventions, Ursula Hegi, author of the best-selling Stones from the River, creates a funny and original novel within a novel to explore the doubts, decisions, and "might-have-beens" that mark not only the writing process but life itself. As her "author" and her fictional heroine deal with their intrusions into each other's lives, Hegi reveals much about the choices women make, the ambiguities they face, and the often surprising ways reality and fiction merge.
"From beloved bestselling author Ursula Hegi, a new novel about three mothers, set on the shores of the Nordsee, perfect for fans of Water for Elephants and The Light Between Oceans. In the summer of 1878, the Ludwig Zirkus has come to the island Nordstrand in Germany. Big-bellied girls rush from St. Margaret's Home for Pregnant Girls, thrilled to see the parade and the show, followed by the Sisters who care for them. The Old Women and Men, competing to be crowned as the island's Oldest Person, watch, thinking they have seen it all. But after the show, a Hundred-Year Wave roars from the Nordsee and claims three young children. Three mothers are on the beach when it happens: Lotte, whose children are lost; Sabine, a Zirkus seamstress with her grown daughter; and Tilli, still just a child herself, who will give birth later that day at St. Margaret's. And all three will end up helping each other more than they ever could have anticipated. As full of joy and beauty as it is of pain, and told with the luminous power that has made Ursula Hegi a beloved bestselling author for decades, The Patron Saint of Pregnant Girls is a shattering portrait of marriage and motherhood, and of the ways in which women hold each other up in the face of heartbreak"-- Provided by publisher
From the acclaimed author of Floating in My Mother’s Palm and Children and Fire, a stunning story about ordinary people living in extraordinary times—“epic, daring, magnificent, the product of a defining and mesmerizing vision” (Los Angeles Times). Trudi Montag is a Zwerg—a dwarf—short, undesirable, different, the voice of anyone who has ever tried to fit in. Eventually she learns that being different is a secret that all humans share—from her mother who flees into madness, to her friend Georg whose parents pretend he’s a girl, to the Jews Trudi harbors in her cellar. Ursula Hegi brings us a timeless and unforgettable story in Trudi and a small town, weaving together a profound tapestry of emotional power, humanity, and truth.
Ursula Hegi – »eine herausragende Erzählerin«. The New York Times Book ReviewNew York, die Bronx von den 50er Jahren bis heute. Ein tragisches Ereignis erschüttert die Familie Amedeo, verändert entscheidend das Leben der beiden Frauen, die im Mittelpunkt dieses berührenden Romans von Ursula Hegi stehen. Fiora und Leonora sind Schwägerinnen, eingebunden in eine laute, erzählfreudige, leidenschaftlich gern essende italienische Familie. Leonora, selbstbewusst und streitsüchtig, versucht sich der Familie ihres Mannes immer wieder zu entziehen. Fiora hingegen, deren irischer Mann ein kleiner Gauner ist und öfter mal im Gefängnis, braucht für sich und ihre Zwillingstöchter die Hilfe ihres Clans. Durch den Unfalltod ihrer Tochter Bianca, in den Leonoras kleiner Sohn Anthony als einziger Zeuge verstrickt ist, gerät sie in eine tiefe Depression. Belinda, der andere Zwilling, braucht Jahre, um sich aus dem Schatten der toten Schwester zu lösen. Leonora ist voller Sorge, weil Anthony in stummer Erstarrung versinkt. Und die ganze redselige Familie Amedeo hüllt sich in Schweigen. Aber Fiora und Leonora, vorher oft zerstritten, finden in der Krise zusammen, durchbrechen das Schweigen der Verdrängung. Mit neuen Partnern beginnen sie unkonventionell ein neues Leben. Fiora und Leonora und ihre Kinder erzählen von den Wendepunkten ihres Lebens. Der Roman besticht durch die kunstvolle Konstruktion, die subtile Charakterzeichnung und die ungewöhnliche Verbindung von Tragik und Situationskomik, Trauer und Lebensfreude.
