Paula
Sandra Hoffmann, Katy Derbyshire
£12.99
Mr B's review
‘Paula’ explores the relationship between the narrator, her mother, and her grandmother in a tone reminiscent of Ditlevsen but focussed more on the interior lives of these three women. How is silence passed down the generations, and to what degree has it been a manifestation of fear, or a means of control? Hoffmann articulates these questions and her answering calls in elegant and smooth prose, pulling at the threads which often bind a family’s present, past, and future. – Tess
Description
“Sandra Hoffmann is one of Germany’s most exciting contemporary writers. […] An incredibly dense, finely woven text that immediately grabs you and pulls you mercilessly in.” Brigitte Woman.
Sandra Hoffmann’s “Paula” is a moving piece of autofiction about the writer’s relationship to her grandmother, a devout Swabian Catholic who refused to reveal who fathered her child in 1946. Growing up in a family where silence reigns, Hoffmann asks: What kind of person, what kind of writer, does this environment produce?
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