Distant Signs
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by Anne Richter
Publication Date: November 7, 2019
Neem Tree Press
Hardcover; 240 Pages
Publisher Description
Distant Signs is an intimate portrait of two families spanning three generations amidst turbulent political change, behind and beyond the Berlin Wall. In 1960s East Germany, Margret, a professor’s daughter from the city, meets and marries Hans, from a small village in Thuringia. The couple struggle to contend with their different backgrounds, and the emotional scars they bear from childhood in the aftermath of war. As East German history gradually unravels, with collision of the personal and political, their two families’ hidden truths are quietly revealed. An exquisitely written novel with strongly etched characters that stay with you long after the book is finished and an authentic portrayal of family life behind the iron curtain based on personal experience of the author who is East German and was 16 years old at the fall of the Berlin Wall. Why do families repeat destructive patterns of behaviour across generations? Should the personal take precedence over the political? Can we rise above our histories and political identities to forge a new understanding of the past and to welcome change?
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I’m so happy for being part of this tour. What caught my attention first was the theme that sounded familiar (I mastered in Germany literature) and the fact I lived in Thuringen.
With Distant Signs, Anne Richter created a deep story with well-written characters and beautiful prose.
Even if I found the first chapter a little slow, the rest of the story lives up to every promise thanks to a storyline written with precision and depth of understanding.
Thanks to the author and the publisher for a free copy in exchange for my honest opinion.
Available on Amazon
About the author
Anne Richter was born in 1973 in Jena, in the former German Democratic Republic. Her degree in Romance languages and English included study periods in England, Italy and France. In 2011, Anne was nominated for the Ingeborg Bachmann Prize, a highly regarded German-language literary award. Her debut novel, Distant Signs, was published in Germany in 2013. Anne is currently writing her second novel.
Douglas Irving is Scottish. He studied German and Spanish at Aberdeen University. In 2014 he completed a Masters in Translation at Glasgow University. His first translation, Crossing: A Love Story by Anna Seghers was published in 2016 in the US to positive reviews. His translation of Anna Seghers’ last work published in her lifetime, Three Women from Haiti, is set to follow.
I would love to win a copy of Distant Tours.❣️????????❣️????❣️????
Thank you for being on the DISTANT SIGNS Blog Tour! We appreciate your support!
Amy
HF Virtual Book Tours