Flotsam by Meike Ziervogel

Anna and her daughter Trine live on the German coast, by mudflats that are covered twice a day, and whose form shifts with the tides. Their life is lonely, haunted by the ghosts of war. Anna is emotionally and artistically paralyzed by grief. She spends her days collecting debris washed up by the tides, with which she intends to create something - but can't find the spark within herself to start. Trine, forced into more social contact through school, is more resilient, finds it possible to put the past behind her and move on.

Set in 1950s Germany, Meike Ziervogel's latest book tells the story of a mother and daughter trying to come to terms with grief and the past. Anne and Trine live, damaged and adrift, like emotional flotsam on the blurred edge between land and sea. The mudflats, shifting and changing form with each tide, echo the women's thoughts and memories - there's only one safe way through, otherwise you'll sink and be caught by the tide. 

Ziervogel's writing is, as always, concise and sparse; her characters troubled and arresting. It's a story which sticks in the mind, with a lot of impact for such a slim volume.


This isn't by any stretch of the imagination a 'traditional' post-apocalypse story, but mulling over what exactly I'd say in this review, perhaps due to how my thoughts are running at the moment, it struck me that there were similarities. Isolated, bleak, drab, their location seems spot on for post-apocalyptic fiction. And then, imagine the mindset of the German people in the immediate post-war years. No matter whether or not they supported the Nazi regime, believed its propaganda or thought it was all lies, the end of the war marks the end of an era; everything that shaped their lives has been swept away, leaving huge uncertainty in its wake. For them, this is post-apocalyptic life.


Maryom's review - 5 stars
Publisher - Salt Publishing
Genre - adult literary fiction, coming of age, 

Top Ten of 2018

For once, I've managed to restrict myself to ten for my 'best of the year' list - all, in their own way, absolutely brilliant ...

Take Nothing With You - Patrick Gale (Tinder Press) - in his fifties, when he thought he was past the age of being surprised, Eustace finds himself falling in love with a man he meets on the internet, and diagnosed with a potentially life-threatening condition. Undergoing long solitary hours of hospital treatment he looks back over his life - the fumbling sexual misadventures of his teenage years, and his escape from a dull, repressive home life through music. Gale's writing is engrossing, intelligent, and compelling.

Missing - Alison Moore (Salt Publishing) How to quickly sum up a novel by Alison Moore? Not easy without giving away too much plot. Jessie Noon lives a solitary life, cut off from neighbours, friends and family. The story follows her trying to start up a new relationship, and fix the gap that has grown between her and her family. On the surface, little seems to happen; beneath it, everything does. Moore is wonderful at playing with words, at building atmosphere, and at creating characters that linger long after the final page.







Home Fire - Kamila Shamsie (Bloomsbury) a book club read which absolutely stunned me. In this story of love, politics, family ties and radicalization, Kamila Shamsie brings Sophocles' Antigone bang up to date, setting it in present day London, where Aneeka finds herself torn between loyalty to her twin brother Parvaiz (despite his extreme beliefs) and her lover, Eamonn, son of the Muslim Home Secretary. I read hoping for a happy ending, but not even today is there an easy way out of this dilemma.









Shadows on the Tundra by Dalia Grinkeviciute (Peirene) Based on actual events, this book is a gripping, moving account of the fate of Lithuanians forcibly moved from their homes during WW2 and 're-settled' in Siberia, in inhumane conditions with inadequate food or shelter. Blurring the lines between fact and fiction, Dalia Grinkeviciute's account doesn't ask for sympathy, but faces the situation head on, doing whatever she needs to to survive.












From a Low and Quiet Sea by Donal Ryan (Doubleday) Three very different men, whose lives are linked in only the slightest of ways, but for whom sorrow has crept up unexpectedly and engulfed them. Donal Ryan always has an amazing way with words, enabling the reader to walk in someone else's shoes for a short time, to experience their fears and hopes, and maybe find sympathy for them.

In Our Mad and Furious City by Guy Gunaratne (Tinder Press) A gripping portrayal of life on a run-down, inner-London estate, of the precarious balance between hope and despair in which its inhabitants live. It follows 48 hours in the lives of three teenage friends from different backgrounds, as outside events kick off riots and change these boys' lives forever. The writing is pacy, and 'in your face', capturing 'street-talk' in a way that feels natural and unforced. It's hard to believe this is a debut novel.










The Truth about Archie and Pye: a mathematical mystery  by Jonathan Pinnock (Farrago) - an off-beat, quirky thriller. After a chance encounter on a train, Tom Winscombe finds himself in possession of a case full of mathematical equations that everyone (including the Belorussian mafia) seems to want, and they're not afraid to kill anyone standing in the way. It's fast-paced, funny, and you don't need to know anything about maths to enjoy it.










Elsewhere, Home by Leila Aboulela (Telegram) - a moving, thought-provoking collection of short stories dealing with the search for 'home' and the difficulties of migrants caught between two places that answer to that description, between the heat and vibrancy of Cairo or Khartoum and the dull, damp streets of Aberdeen or London, or, conversely, the old-fashioned, limited world of Africa and the modern, opportunity-filled one of Europe. Having chosen to leave, though, home can't really be returned to.





Shatila Stories edited by Meike Ziervogel - an ambitious project from the founder of Peirene Press, in which she and London-base Syrian editor Suhir Helal travelled to Beirut, to the Shatila settlement created for Palestinian refugees, and worked with hopeful, enthusiastic, but inexperienced, writers from the camp itself to develop the stories that go into this collection. Again a book that lets the reader into the lives of the people so often dismissed as mere 'numbers' in a news report.






Once Upon a River by Diane Setterfield (Doubleday) This last choice is a sneaky inclusion, as it's currently only available in the UK as an e-book, and won't be available as a hardback till January 17th. It was too good to be made to wait a whole year though. It's a masterpiece of story-telling concerning a girl pulled out of the river Thames. Assumed to be dead, she miraculously comes back to life but then the search is on for her family - with several people claiming her as theirs she becomes the centre of a 'tug of love'.

The Photographer by Meike Ziervogel

review by Maryom

Based on the story of her grandparents, Meike's Ziervogel's latest novel returns to the scene of her first, Magda - Germany in the 1930s and '40s. This time though the focus is not on the Nazi elite, but on an 'average' couple - Trude and Albert.
They meet in 1933, and, despite Trude's mother's objections, after a whirlwind romance leave Germany to travel round Europe while Albert begins to make his mark as a photographer. With war approaching they return home to Pomerania in the east of Germany, but Albert is soon forced to join the army, and as the war sweeps first east then west, the family is separated by forces beyond their control.
Through this small family of mother, daughter, son-in-law, and grandson, we see the desperate hardships and heart-breaking decisions that faced many German families - to volunteer or try to avoid conscription, to remain in the family home or flee with only the minimum of clothing and mementos; it's a story that in many ways is being echoed today in other parts of the world.
So many war-time 'romances' end with the return of the soldier to a hero's welcome; the Photographer doesn't. Trude and Albert's story continues in the harsh environment of refugee camps, where they have to readjust, learn to love each other again, and Albert particularly has to forget the past few years and rediscover the person he was before. The horrors he's seen are largely unmentioned, but have obviously affected him; as he wanders around, picking up his camera but never ready to commit to actually taking a photograph, there's an almost unbearable sense of a man lost and not able to find his way back to 'normality'.
In length, the story is short - 170 pages - but it's not one to rush. Take your time, because every word counts. Ziervogel's prose is pared back, almost to a minimum, and leaves the reader to put in some effort. At times the motivation behind the characters' actions is left a little 'open', and the reader can maybe choose their own interpretation  - for instance, one may see Trude's mother as an interfering busybody, another as a concerned, patriotic mother. I quite like this in a novel - the story isn't cast in stone, but can be re-interpreted according to my mood or influences outside the book.


Maryom's review - 5 stars
Publisher - Salt Publishing
Genre - Adult historical fiction, WW2, 

Top Ten.. or so.. of the Year - 2015

by Maryom


I've reached the end of my reviewing for this year, so now it's on to the far harder task of picking my favourites.....
A rough count shows I read just over 150 books this year so trying to choose a Top Ten out of them was going to be hard. First I made a longlist - which started out quite tidily but grew scrappier as I added more and more titles to it. Then I tried making a pile of books, to see if this would concentrate my thoughts - which worked fine till I remembered all those 'hidden' books on the kindle.... so back to the 'list' with a highlighter pen..... to pick out those I'd be most likely to thrust at folk and say "you MUST read this" ....

So at last I narrowed my list down to ten .....and a few more...


Weathering by Lucy Wood - a story of mothers and daughters, belonging and home, and wild, wet weather, it's written in almost stream-of-consciousness style, with beautiful prose that slips into poetry. Closely observed, minutely described, it captures mood and emotion, conjures the feel and touch of river and snow with writing that puts the reader so firmly THERE in the landscape that I expected to see snow banked outside my windows or river rushing over the lawn.


Spill, Simmer, Falter, Wither by Sara Baume - an amazing debut novel about two outsiders - a man, Ray, and One-Eye, the battered, violent dog he 'adopts'. From the moment Ray takes One-Eye home, he starts to talk to him; as One-Eye is introduced to the house where Ray has lived all his life, as they walk round the village or along the seafront, play football on a deserted beach, and as they drive away from the seaside through Ireland's countryside, Ray keeps up a rambling monologue, ostensibly aimed at One-Eye, describing all he sees, capturing the sights and sounds along the way, sharing secrets and gradually revealing the dark secret he hides. I started to feel that this was more about a dog giving a man a chance at redemption, than the other, more obvious, way round.



A Year of Marvellous Ways by Sarah Winman - At eighty nine, Marvellous Ways lives quietly, alone but not necessarily lonely, swims in the creek each day, and is still waiting for something, although she doesn't know what. Woven through with magic, with tales of mermaids and long-lost love, this is an absolutely, well, marvellous story. The setting is enchanting, and enchanted, the creek a place of peace and healing, the story-telling lyrical, the whole permeated by myth and magic.





A Slanting of the Sun by Donal Ryan  - a collection of short stories from the author of the Spinning Heart and The Thing About December that will knock you sideways and leave you emotionally drained. The writing style is quiet and undramatic, the characters all people you'd pass on the street and never remark upon, but just listen to the stories they have to tell! If you want something fun and light, that will make you laugh out loud - go elsewhere. If you want a read that will move you, maybe shock you, make you stop and look twice at your neighbours and wonder what makes them 'tick', let you experience emotions that I hope would never befall you in real life, this is the one to choose.

Kauthar by Meike Ziervogel - how does a white, well-educated, British woman become an Islamic suicide bomber? The author draws a portrait of a woman struggling to fill an empty, gaping hole in her life - there never seems to be enough, or maybe the right sort of, love, to satisfy her need, and in desperation she twists her religion to fill that void. Ziervogel again tackles a subject that others might shy away from; only 144 pages long but it doesn't need more.


A Place Called Winter by Patrick Gale -  Harry Cane was living a quiet, gentlemanly, suburban life in Edwardian England till an indiscretion brought it to an abrupt end. Forced to leave his wife and child, and strike out on his own, he heads west to the frontier lands of Canada ... not quite in search of his fortune but certainly looking for a place to build a new life, to come to terms with himself and his newly awakened sexuality. A quiet, mostly undramatic but immensely moving book which I've now read THREE times and I still love it. It's definitely a keeper!



 A God In Ruins by Kate Atkinson - another quiet, unassuming hero, this time Teddy Todd, a World War 2 bomber pilot. Scarred and numbed by his experiences, and feeling a need to atone for his actions, Teddy decides his life will now be one of kindness, his own slight reparation for the horror of war, but those dreadful years are not shrugged off so easily and his relationships with wife, daughter and grandchildren are all affected. Despite the excellent writing, I couldn't at first see what was SO special about this book - but there's a twist in the tale, and an ending which changes everything.

The Life and Death of Sophie Stark by Anna North -  Sophie Stark is a film-maker - one who makes visually engaging, often disturbing, films but is unable to connect emotionally at a personal level - in fact she has always found it easier to communicate through visual art. Her story is narrated by the six people who were closest to her, each with a unique insight into her as a person and director - her brother, the guy she had a crush on in college, her actress lover, her singer-songwriter husband, a Hollywood producer/director and a film reviewer. Their accounts build up a portrait of a talented but disturbed young woman. It's an unusual and compelling read - one to check out if you like something a little 'different'.



At Hawthorn Time by Melissa Harrison - We all have an idea, or ideal, of how the English countryside should be - sleepy villages where nothing has changed in hundreds of years, meadows with placidly grazing cows, ancient woodlands, life centred on the turning of the seasons. The reality of heavy farm machinery, migrant workers, the whole modern agricultural business or even cow-pat strewn roads doesn't quite fit that image we have. Into this gap between expectations and reality falls this story of people trying to 'find themselves';  a couple newly moved out of London in search of an idyllic country life; a youngster, born and bred in the village, but into a time when there's no future for him there; and a wanderer, a quiet, harmless man but seen by others as a vagrant, a threat to the established order.


The Versions of Us by Laura Barnett - somewhere between the movie Sliding Doors and Kate Atkinson's Life After Life, falls this tale of Eva and Jim and the different paths their lives could have taken after a chance meeting in Cambridge in 1958. From that initial meeting, three different futures pan out, each fully realised, like reading three different stories. The balance between them is perfect, none is allowed to dominate, but which of them leads to a happier life? At first it seems to be one version, then, as the years pass, another will seem the more appealing. It led me to wonder if I were Eva or Jim and could choose my life, knowing all the permutations, which would it be?



Well, that's my Top Ten, but a lot of them have already appeared on literary longlists for this prize or that, and I'm guessing a lot of readers will have heard of them, perhaps even read them already, so I'm going to include the best of my longlist - a wider-ranging list from literary to sci-fi to crime, and including some older books that I only discovered for the first time this year.


The Sea Between Us by Emylia Hall - This, Emylia Hall's third novel, is the nearest yet to a straight forward love story. The relationship between Robyn and Jago grows and changes over a seven year span, as instant attraction turns to something deeper, but fate seems determined to push them apart. Theirs is a story of missed chances, of so often being in the wrong place at the wrong time, of letters and messages going astray, of other relationships getting in the way - a little bit like Friends' Ross and Rachel, a little like Emma and Dexter from David Nicholls' One Day - but while it's a love story, there's so much more to it than that.
The Summer of Secrets by Sarah Jasmon -  There's a certain sort of mid-teenage point in life when summer seems like it could last forever - a few years earlier you don't appreciate the spread of six weeks freedom ahead; a few years older, and autumn seems already visible at the end of July - and this is what Sarah Jasmon has captured so well - long, lazy, hot days of a summer that feels like it could never end, but with a friendship as intense as only a teenage friendship can be and a thread of hidden secrets.
The Truth According To Us  by Annie Barrows - more hidden secrets, this time belonging to the Romeyn family of Macedonia, West Virginia.  I'd say this was a gem of a book but at 500 plus pages, it's a large show-stopping gem! It's certainly one of those special books in which you can immerse yourself completely; the characters and setting feel as real as those around you, and when (if) you take a break you'll be shocked to find yourself back in real life.
The Rocks by Peter Nichols -   a story of love and betrayal played out over three generations against a backdrop of sun, sea and, yes, sex in the Mallorcan village of Cala Marsopa. Told in an unusual way, it starts in the present and moves backwards to 1948. It's a story of misunderstandings, mishaps and failures in relationships, which doesn't sound like a good read - but it is!
The Kindness of Enemies by Leila Aboulela - an amazing thought-provoking read, moving between the present day and the Crimean War, about the dilemma of being torn between conflicting cultures but never quite belonging totally to either, and how sometimes accepting defeat is braver than fighting on.
The Mountain Can Wait by Sarah Leipciger - a moving story exploring the relationship between Tom and Curtis, a father and his son, one intimately connected with nature, one completely rejecting it, and the choices that have to be made between freedom and responsibility. It's a book that will inspire you to get out there, head for your nearest mountain or hill top and soak in the beauty, even if it isn't as magnificent as the Rockies

My top sci-fi read of the year - Touch by Claire North - Imagine that by taking hold of someone's hand, you could become them, could jump from body to body as you wished, and stay there for as long as you liked, from seconds to years. This is what 'Kepler' and others like him can do. Now someone has decided that it's time to stop him - but its easier to evade an assassin if you've some idea of who sent them and why. So begins a game of cat and mouse as Kepler tries to track down the person behind it, while trying to avoid those pursuing him. The thriller aspect is fast-paced, action-packed, full of twists, turns and deviousness. It starts with the 'bang' of a murder and Kepler running for his life, and carries on at this breathless pace; as a game of hunter and hunted it's up there with the best of spy thrillers.

I haven't read a lot of Fantasy this year, but loved Naomi Novik's Uprooted  Set somewhere vaguely in Eastern Europe, in places that sound very like Poland and Russia, it's a coming of age tale, a fight of good against evil, a love story, and one that encourages us to accept people no matter how different they are to ourselves. A fairytale with grit!

 Three crime novels -
Wolf Winter by Cecilia Ekback takes the whodunnit murder mystery and transports it to a time and place far removed from the modern urban landscape. In the early eighteenth century the far north of Sweden is remote and empty; a place where life itself is a struggle against the vagaries of the weather and the loss of a harvest can mean starvation. In the long, hard, dark winter, wolves howl at the doors, fear and loneliness build and the barriers between 'modern' logical beliefs and old pagan traditions break down.




A Killing Moon is another brilliantly tense thriller from Derby's very own crime writer Steven Dunne. This is the fifth in the DI Brook series and I think I'm getting used to having my home city's streets filled with murderers - at least, fictional ones! A Killing Moon isn't a simple 'guess the murderer' style crime novel. It's one of those books in which things start out quietly, and seemingly simply, but soon escalate, with extra threads weaving their way in, as Brook and Noble find themselves on the trail of a sinister conspiracy targeting young women away from home.

The Living and Dead in Winsford by Hakan Nesser - a stand-alone psychological thriller from the author of the long-running Van Veeteren series. This time the setting is Exmoor, but a British winter of fogs and rain proves as 'noir' as any Scandinavian setting; the main character a Swedish woman, Maria, hiding under a false name, running from something dreadful and fearing pursuit.







I've read a lot of brilliant teen/ya books this year but these two stood out. 

Anything That Isn't This by Chris Priestley - a little bit dystopian, a little bit love story, with a bit of thriller thrown in for good measure, this is a story that captures the confusion of teenage feelings the world over, is about challenging the norm and searching for hope in a dull grey world.



The Door That Led To Where by Sally Gardner - a slippery, twisty sort of plot with time travel, a murder mystery, the clearing up of a forgery case, and the tiniest bit of romance - added together they make a brilliant, compelling read.







and, at long last, the oldies which you've probably already read!

If Nobody Speaks of Remarkable Things by Jon McGregor - On a late summer's day the residents of a street in the north of England are going about their daily routines. Nothing special is happening - a man is painting his windows, two boys are playing cricket, a toddler rides his tricycle up and down the street, an elderly couple celebrate their anniversary - the sort of things that make up any average day...then something happens, a terrible thing which leaves its mark on all who witnessed it.

The Long Dry   - This is Cynan Jones' first novel and is set in the landscape that's become familiar to me through his later work - Everything I Found On The Beach and The Dig. There's the same grit and grimness underlying the beauty of the landscape, the same feeling of inevitable anguish. It's not all doom and gloom - there's light relief from the teenage son, with his delight in driving the transit van, and the mass 'attack' of the ducks on the nearby seaside town - but moments of joy seem short-lived and over-shadowed by sorrow to come. Much more than a story about a farmer looking for a lost cow!

Diamond Star Halo by Tiffany Murray - set against a backdrop of rock-stars and recording studios hidden in the depths of the Welsh countryside, this is a story of 'crazy love' that breaks the rules, an exploration of the ties of family and home, a coming of age novel, a family epic ranging over three generations,  there's a bit of all these in Diamond Star Halo, and I loved each of them.

An Experiment in Love by Hilary Mantel - in style and length reminiscent of Sylvia Plath's The Bell Jar and Françoise Sagan's Bonjour Tristesse, this is a bitter-sweet, first person narrative of the lives of young women on the cusp between child and adult, at a time of life so full of possibilities, but which could easily tip into tragedy.

Kauthar by Meike Ziervogel

review by Maryom

All her life Lydia has been looking for something to which she can dedicate herself. As a child she wanted to follow her father and become a champion gymnast, to gain the adulation and admiration of a spellbound crowd. As an adult, trying to regain her self-respect after a disastrous affair, she discovers Islam - the cleansing and prayer rituals, the rules by which she must live her life offer a framework within which she can lose herself and find love.
Lydia changes her name to Kauthar, wears hijab, marries a Muslim Iraq-born doctor and her life seems complete. But somehow she still doesn't feel quite fulfilled - maybe a child will fill the gap, or joining her husband helping the injured in his war-torn home country.....  What Lydia/Kauthar encounters there leads her towards what she sees as the ultimate sacrifice of self but others view as terrorism.

It's a bit flippant to say that Meike Ziervogel likes to explore the concept of  'women behaving badly' but here again, as with Magda, she does just that. The book opens, as it ends, with a suicide bombing - a horrific act, designed to shock and terrify, but that leaves us wondering why would someone do such thing. Through hate, or a desire for vengeance? well, from Kauthar's perspective it's an act of love. The story doesn't dwell on the sensationalist aspects  - the scattered body parts or the number of dead and injured  - but is interested in that question "Why?"
There's obviously no easy, one-size-fits-all answer but the author offers a plausible account of how one well-educated, white British woman might come to commit such a devastating act. Moving between childhood and adult years, the reader follows Lydia/Kauthar's life, trying to understand her, her reasoning and motivation, the psychological triggers that have pushed her and shaped her. As before in Ziervogel's work, there's a hint of the troubled relationship between mother and daughter. Lydia feels closest to her father, and her mother frequently seems dismissive of Lydia, belittling her and her aims and ideals as both child and adult.

 In 144 pages, the author draws a portrait of a woman struggling to fill an empty, gaping hole in her life - there never seems to be enough, or maybe the right sort of, love, to satisfy her need, and in desperation she twists her religion to fill that void.  This is without doubt another stunning, thought-provoking novella from Meike Ziervogel. Like those she publishes, the stories she writes tackle subjects that others might shy away from; they may be short but are deep and satisfying  - it doesn't feel an extra page or dozen would add anything.

There's a proverb (French I think) that claims that to understand all is to forgive all - and Kauthar (again like Magda) has committed an act that feels impossible to forgive. I certainly felt I understood Lydia/Kauthar but would I be able to forgive her? I don't think so.



 Maryom's review - 5 stars
Publisher - Salt Publishing
Genre - Adult fiction, literary

Clara's Daughter by Meike Ziervogel

 review by Maryom

 Michele appears to be a woman who has everything - a successful career, two grown up children and a happy marriage - but cracks have started to form underneath the surface and her world's about to crumble. 
Don't read my summary and expect a thriller! Meike Ziervogel's second novel is a quiet, intimate portrayal of a life falling apart as Michele is pulled in opposite directions by loyalty to her husband and mother. Things start in an idyllic seeming way - a cycle ride and an early morning swim shared by Michele and husband Jim but already there are signs that Jim expects life to be lived his way and that, now the children are independent, his wife's attention should be on him.  Michele has other concerns and obligations though - ideally she'd concentrate her time and efforts on her work, an important deal is in the offing and as CEO she wants to be there and in charge .... but then there's her elderly mother, Clara, who increasingly needs to be looked after. Her sister Hilary would love to help out, so she says, but always finds a reason not to, while manoeuvring Michele into doing everything. A care home would be ideal but will Michele's conscience allow her to send her mother there?  Where is the midst of these conflicting ties is there space for Michele herself?

As in Meike Ziervogel's debut novel  Magda, the central relationship is that between mother and daughter; how it changes through the years, with the balance of dependence and help shifting between the two. Jim shares the idea that I feel is in the back of many couple's minds that once the children have grown, then their time will be free to do with as they please - a luxury cruise, golfing holidays in the Algarve or, in Jim's case, downsizing to a remote cottage by the sea. Life isn't that simple though, there are always obligations to be met and, as parents age, children, once cared for become the carers themselves. Clara I felt to be just as much the victim of circumstances as her daughter - although terrified at the thought of being institutionalised in a home or hospital, living as a dependant in a converted basement was certainly not how she'd have chosen to spend her old age.
Alongside this core, it explores Michele's relationships with her self-centred, laid back husband and manipulative sister, and looks at the different roles we play at various stages of life - daughter, mother, sister, wife, artist, businesswoman; how they pull us in opposite directions, are sometimes impossible to combine, some having to be sacrificed for others and how ultimately they shape and define us, rather than us choosing and determining our own future.

 It's a short book, just over 130 pages, but one that requires a little effort on behalf of the reader, in the form of some input and response. Don't sit back and expect everything to be laid out in plain sight - it's a little like watching a play; the characters' feelings and motivations have to be interpreted from their words and actions, and I suspect everyone will see things slightly differently, informed by their own feelings and experiences.

The structure is a little curious - two timelines, one of which charts a week leading up to a decisive point in Michele and Jim's relationship; the other darting ahead into the future, a month, six months, a year, eighteen months, charting the more lasting effects- so the reader needs to retain track of both to fully appreciate he unfolding of events.
Clara's Daughter is an amazing book, packing so much into such a short space, and one that while telling a very specific story about two women raises matters that are of consequence to all of us. Best of all, it's a book that I expect to improve with further reading.

Maryom's review - 5 stars
Publisher - Salt Publishing
Genre - Adult literary fiction

Meike Ziervogel - (Part 2) Author/Publisher Interview

Last week we published the first part of an interview with Meike Ziervogel in which she talked about Peirene Press, now we're delighted to welcome her as an author, talking about her debut novel, Magda, a portrayal of the wife of Nazi Germany's propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels.

The first question must be 'Why Magda Goebbels'? What drew you to her as a subject? Has she fascinated you for a long time or did something specific spark an idea?

The starting point was very personal: 18 years ago, when I gave birth to my first child, a daughter, I struggled for two years to embrace motherhood. I couldn’t connect neither to my daughter nor the mother inside myself. Since then I have often wondered what could have happened if I had not made the emotional connection to my role as a mother? I looked around for a dramatic story to explore this ’if’. Magda Goebbels caught my attention. I soon realised that I had found a compelling example of a mother-daughter tragedy. The failure of Magda’s mother to connect to her daughter paved the way to a flawed maternal relationship in the next generation. Magda Goebbels was not able to perceive her children’s reality and lives as separate from her own – and acted accordingly.
Moreover, I wanted to allow myself to look at my own German history critically but with understanding.
And finally I want to help correct a bias towards books about Nazi men to the exclusion of Nazi women who officially did not commit crimes but in my view are equally culpable. 


I must admit that until reading Magda, and then Jane Thynne's Black Roses, I hadn't thought much about the women behind the Nazi leadership. The whole Nazi world seems such a male-oriented one with women confined to child-rearing, kitchen and church, that I'd assumed they would have no influence at all.

How much of the story is based on research and how much artistic invention?

Not merely are Magda and Joseph Goebbels and their children historical figures, but also her mother and Magda’s first husband and her affair with  Zionist Chaim Arlosoroff. Other historical facts: Magda spent some years as a child in a Catholic convent in Belgium, Auguste married a Jewish merchant. Magda wanted to leave Joseph Goebbels and Hitler talked her out of it. Joseph, Magda and their children spent their last days in Hitler’s bunker. At the end of the war Magda was physically sick. Since 1942 she had suffered from heart problems and Trigeminal neuralgia (a nerve disorder that causes a stabbing or electric-shock-like pain in parts of the face) that left half of her face paralysed, in addition to severe depression and heavy consumption of alcohol and cigarettes.
However all the scenes, thoughts and feelings of the characters are fiction.

I said in my review that after reading, I understood but didn't sympathise with Magda. How did you feel about her? Did your opinion change during the writing process?

While I wrote Madga, I as the writer had to empathise with my character, otherwise I couldn’t have written the book. Why? Because I wanted to draw a three dimensional human being. I also believe that there were forces at work that were too strong for her: deficient childhood, historical constraints on a woman fulfilling her ambitions and the delusion of an ideology. But ultimately she does not deserve our symphathy, because she was a grown up woman who not only could have made different choices but decided not to, but who also failed to respect her children’s rights for life.

Although it in no way excuses her, I came away from your novel feeling that Magda believed she was acting for the best - that the post-Nazi world was no place for her or her children. Maybe you created more sympathy for her in the reader, than you feel yourself!

You're now seeing the publishing world from a different angle. Did being a publisher first help at all? Does it make you better at editing or at pitching your novel to agents? Did you ever feel tempted to publish Magda yourself under the Peirene banner?

Being a publisher first has certainly helped. I’ve learned a lot from my authors. From Veronique Olmi her courageous portrayal of a mother-child relationship; from Friedrich Christian Delius for handling the familiar subject of Nazis with empathy and from a new angle; and from any number of authors teaching me the power of compression and strong voices. Furthermore, I can now recognize that publishing a book is a team effort. You have to allow other people to contribute, such as the editor, the proofreader, the designer. And finally running Peirene has demystified the act of publishing and taught me the importance of marketing literature well. However, I was never tempted to publish ‘Magda’ under the Peirene banner. For two reasons: Firstly: Peirene only publishes bestsellers and award-winners in translation. And secondly: It is a wonderful feeling to have the stamp of approval from someone else and especially from such a brilliant publisher as Salt.

And what next? Your website says you're working on a second novel. Can you share anything about it?

This is my fourth novella, but my first published book. There are recurring themes in all my books. My first two novellas, like Magda, deal with flawed mother-daughter relationships, while my third book expands on the notion of a woman who is seduced by an ideology – in this instance Islamic fundamentalism - and who eventually becomes a suicide bomber. The story I am working on now explores the husband-wife relationship of a mature couple. Again I am asking myself about the nature of love, this time between equals rather than parent and child and in the absence of any escapist ideology.

Once again, many thanks Meike for taking the time out to join us and we wish we every success with your new story and the future development of Peirene.


Maryom's reviews of Magda, and Clara's Daughter

Meike Ziervogel - (Part 1) Author/Publisher Interview

 Today we're very excited to have a 'visit' from Meike Ziervogel, founder of Peirene Press and author of Magda, a disturbing portrayal of the wife of Joseph Goebbels. More about Magda in Part 2 but for today we're talking about Peirene and publishing translated fiction....

You're probably best known as the founder of Peirene Press, specialising in short contemporary foreign fiction. Starting up a publishing house presumably wasn't something that occurred to you overnight, so what led you to it?

My entrepreneurial role requires a combination of analytical skills and creative drive. I have always been interested in both. My main subjects at Abitur level (A Level equivalent) were Maths and German. Then for many years I concentrated on my linguistic side, studying Arabic and Literature at University. I worked as a journalist for a period and afterwards became a freelance writer. I love writing but it’s a lonely job and I realized I also wanted to have an impact – however small- on society. So I set up a business with a product I am passionate about: a publishing house for foreign literature.

Why translated fiction? There are after all hundreds, even thousands, of books published each year in English.

Much impressive literature has been created in other countries – but lacks an audience in English. I am for example amazed that it was left to Peirene to publish the 20th century Catalan modern classic, Stone in a Landslide by Maria Barbal, and one of the most controversial French novels of recent years, Beside the Sea by Veronque Olmi, that sold 35,000 copies in France and a similar amount in Germany.
It’s a pity that these books face such difficulties accessing the English market. The Anglo-Saxon world ends up with a homogeneous literary culture. The obsession with plot and information delivers a thriller-like kick but wears flat after a while and rarely leaves us feeling culturally enhanced or intellectually uplifted.
Goethe once said: ‘Left to itself every literature will exhaust its vitality, if it is not refreshed by the continuous contribution of a foreign one.’ My children are growing up in the UK, and probably my grand-children in due time will grow up here too. I would like them to experience a literature and a culture that is vibrant, alive and open. Peirene is doing her bit to help.  

I'm not sure all English writing sacrifices depth for plot - and presumably foreign bookshops are as clogged with best-sellers as any here - but the novellas chosen for Peirene have certainly all been thought-provoking and left an impact out of proportion to their length.


There's obviously an art to translating, getting the words, rhythm and mood to match the original. How do you find someone to do this? How closely do you work with translators? Have you ever been disappointed with a translation?

I never rely on reader reports or sample translations. Before I buy the English rights for a text, I will have read the work in its entirety either in the original or German/French translation. I therefore have a very good sense of the rhythm, voice and essence before we start to translate. In order to find a translator: If it is a new language for Peirene, I will ask other publishers for translator recommendations. I then usually commission three or four 1000-word sample translations. It is important that I find a translator who has a similar approach to literary translation as I have. Peirene’s aim is to find a way to capture the essence – the soul – of the text, which includes the rhythm and the voice, and then recreate it in English. The English book needs to read ‘as if written in English’ – the characters and the story need to come off the page just as they do in the original. However, that generally means that the original and the English texts sound very different from each other. They are in fact two entirely different texts. But ultimately they achieve the same effect on the English reader as they had on the original reader.
Once the translator has delivered the translation, the editorial process starts. I make the first edits, which often include numerous back and forth between the translator and myself. When we both agree on a draft, our copy editor, Lesley Levene, will read it. She is extremely good in picking up on unnecessary repetitions and phrases that still sound awkward. Eventually the big test comes: an English reader who doesn’t know anything about the text or the translation process will read the novella. Anything that still jars or doesn’t make sense or doesn’t appear to be part of the logic of the text will be underlined, and we have to go back to the drawing board.
If I have found a good translator, I like to work with them again - translators such as Jamie Bulloch or Emily Jeremiah.
Our detailed editorial process ensures that Peirene only publishes translations that are of very high quality. And so far I have been proud of each Peirene translation. 

I'm not sure if it quite counts as a compliment but Peirene novellas don't feel like translations. I've read many others with badly-constructed sentences or words that jar and stop the flow of the writing. Please encourage your translators and editors to keep up the good work!

The Peirene facebook page recently quoted Denis Parsons Burkitt  "It is better to read a little and ponder a lot than to read a lot and ponder a little." This seems to me to encapsulate Peirene's ethos. Would you agree?

Yes, absolutely. For me, reading is a creative act. Often, however, we abuse reading as a means to escape our present reality.  That is a pity. Reading should broaden our mind and engage our creative skills. We need space to ponder what we have read. If we continuously binge-read we forget to use literature as a wonderful tool to analyse and understand ourselves better.

 You've made me wonder how many reviewers and bloggers might be guilty of binge-reading as I certainly feel a self-inflicted pressure to read not only the books lined up on my to-be-read pile but others I hear talked about through social-media. On the other hand, I've always been someone who's always read non-stop, so having to write reviews might actually encourage me to take more time and to think about what I've read instead of moving immediately on to the next book.

Do you feel everything an author has to say can be put in 200 pages, or do you feel the modern reader doesn't have the time to commit to a 800 page epic saga?
Do you ever feel there are limitations to this?

In a healthy literary culture there should be scope for short and long books, just as there should be plays, film, poetry and novels. Nonetheless I love the novella form because it forces the writer to think about the structure of their book. A novella resembles at best a piece of art: narrative, voice and structure form a complete whole and each of those three aspects informs the other and the meaning of the text lies in the three components working together.

Peirene seem to specialise as well in innovative marketing - subscriptions, coffee mornings, literary salons and even the roaming book store taking books out to the public. Were these things always part of the plan?  Does this help to catch the public's eye and spread the word to people who might not have discovered you?

Peirene prides itself on strong, recognizable branding. This was a deliberate choice from the very beginning. We don’t just want to publish books. Peirene has another objective: To create a cohesive community of readers and booklovers. I would love readers to buy the Peirene books not for the individual title but because they trust Peirene to make a good selection.  A sort of European literary book society. You subscribe and we send you  every four months a small, fascinating book you can read in an evening. To enhance the community spirit, we support a charity, The Maya Centre (50p of each book sold goes to this charity), we run Pop-up Stalls, Coffee mornings, Supper Clubs, a masterclass in novella writing  and the Peirene Salon where readers, critics, writers come to my house. 

The Salon is something I would love to attend  - for once I envy people in London!


What exciting things do Peirene have lined up for the future?

In 2014 Peirene will publish a new series: ‘Coming-of-age’ which consists of three novellas from Uzbekistan, Libya and Norway.

I don't think I've read anything from Uzbekistan or Libya so these should prove really interesting. 

 
Thanks Meike for an interesting look at Peirene and we will shortly publish part 2 of our Q&A with questions Meike as an Author. Watch this space...


We have reviewed a number of Peirene's publications and you can see them here.

Magda by Meike Ziervogel

 review by Maryom

"In this daring portrayal of Magda Goebbels – wife of Hitler’s propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels – Meike Ziervogel unveils an historical tale of abusive mother and daughter relationships that reaches a terrifying conclusion in the last days of Nazi Germany.

Magda is born at the beginning of the 20th century, the illegitimate child of a maidservant who feels burdened with a daughter she does not want. The girl grows up to become an ambitious woman, desperate for love and recognition. When Magda meets Joseph Goebbels, he appears to answer all her needs, and together they have six children. Towards the end of the Second World War, Magda has become physically and emotionally sick. As she takes her children into the Führer’s bunker, her eldest daughter Helga experiences an overwhelming sense of foreboding."

 When I was first offered a review copy of Magda, I was more intrigued by the fact that it was written by the founder of Peirene Press than by its story-line. After all Peirene has become noted for its short, perceptive fiction, so I wondered what and how Meike Ziervogel would write herself, whereas a fictionalised biography of Frau Goebbels didn't seem overly appealing. So did it measure up? Yes!

As I half expected, Magda is a short book - under 120 pages - but one that packs a punch. It's a powerful, emotionally draining novel that takes the reader behind the public façade and gets into the mindset of someone who commits the cruellest of acts in the belief that they are doing a kindness. The author doesn't try to find excuses for Magda's behaviour but to uncover her possible thoughts and motivations, starting with her rather lonely, institutionalised childhood, through finding purpose as a supporter of the rising Nazi party, to the peak of her career as wife of Joseph Goebbels. I didn't know anything of Magda Goebbels before reading this and would probably have dismissed her as a fairly brainless 'trophy' wife. By the time I reached the moving end, I felt that I understood her, even if I didn't approve.
Magda isn't the only character of course. I particularly liked the portrayal of her mother - being questioned by a Russian commissar and trying desperately to distance herself from any involvement in her daughter's acts. Magda's own daughter, Helga, seemed a little too trusting for her years - a combination of innocent yet brain-washed due to her upbringing within Hitler's inner circle.

A disturbing book but one I'd recommend to anyone with interests from psychological profiling to Hitler's Germany.

Maryom's review - 4.5 stars
Publisher - Salt Publishing
Genre - Adult fiction, historical fiction

If this has intrigued you, find out more in our Q+A with Meike Ziervogel