Distant Signs

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?
***
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.

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