Penguin Herbstvergessene

The fates of three women from three generations, condensed into a gripping, atmospherically rich family saga. We approached the Hohehorst manor slowly. In a square stood two flagpoles with swastikas. I still remember taking a deep breath and starting to count: nineteen windows on the front side, nine dormers with skylights, four chimneys, and a lookout in the center of the roof. It is too late for reconciliation: Maja Sternberg has had no contact with her mother Lilli for ten years - now Lilli is dead. The police in Vienna are calling it suicide. But Maja cannot bring herself to believe that. In her mother's apartment, she finds her birth certificate: the father's name is missing. Hohehorst is listed as the place of birth. A photo shows grandmother Charlotte with a baby, but this dark-skinned baby bears no resemblance to the fair-haired, blue-eyed Lilli. Driven by guilt, questions, and a sense of unease, Maja sets out on a journey back to a past that was never spoken of. Her search leads her to a place where the foundation of her family begins to crumble – and to a truth that runs deeper than she dared to imagine. A deeply moving novel about three generations of women, about origins, silence, and the fragility of familial certainties – and about a place where the racial ideology of National Socialism became a cruel reality. The long-seller in a new edition.