A poignant, arresting debut…
Harms makes her dazzling foray into the world of fiction with this remarkable story about hunger, desperation, cruelty, and resilience which is set against the backdrop of WW II. Growing up in an isolated village in eastern Hungary between the great wars, Adam yearns to spread his wings wider. From a 12-year-old runaway searching for food to a 15-year-old shivering in the mud of a frozen foxhole on the Eastern Front, Adam’s resilience is boundless. Struggling through a war-torn landscape, Adam builds his life from the ashes, but unforeseen circumstances will change his destiny forever. The story follows the trajectory of Adam and his family’s lives from pre-war years through WWII and then the displacement of German families from Hungary and other countries to Germany and its aftermath. Interweaving various story lines and set against the background of a well-trodden period of history – as Hitler plunged Europe into war and afterwards as Europe reeled from the final destruction and horror of WW2 – Harms stays focused on the tests and triumphs ordinary Germans faced during the war. The vivid descriptions of German-Hungarian culture and the people’s ways of living add to the intrigue of the story. Moving, assured prose, swift narrative, and memorable characters make this poignant tale all the more remarkable. Harms skillfully portrays one man’s journey of triumph against hardships, successfully bringing a complex and turbulent time in history to life. A riveting, poignant, coming-of-age story that will delight both lovers of historical fiction and literary fiction.