The German house : a novel

Set against the Frankfurt Auschwitz Trials of 1963... [this] is a harrowing yet ultimately uplifting coming-of-age story about a young female translator--caught between societal and familial expectations and her unique ability to speak truth to power--as she fights to expose the dark truths of her nation's past. For twenty-four-year-old Eva Bruhns, World War II is a foggy childhood memory. At the war's end, Frankfurt was a smoldering ruin, severely damaged by the Allied bombings. But that was two decades ago. Now it is 1963, and the city's streets, once cratered are smooth and paved. Shiny new stores replace scorched rubble. Eager for her wealthy suitor, Jürgen Schoormann, to propose, Eva dreams of starting a new life away from her parents and sister. But Eva's plans are turned upside down when a fiery investigator, David Miller, hires her as a translator for a war crimes trial. As she becomes more deeply involved in the Frankfurt Trials, Eva begins to question her family's silence on the war and her future. Why do her parents refuse to talk about what happened? What are they hiding? Does she really love Jürgen and will she be happy as a housewife? Though it means going against the wishes of her family and her lover, Eva, propelled by her own conscience , joins a team of fiery prosecutors determined to bring the Nazis to justice--a decision that will help change the present and the past of her nation. --

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TRANSLATED FROM GERMAN.

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Library	Call Number	Status
Searching... Hardwood Creek Library (Forest Lake)	FICTION HES	Searching... Unknown
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The novel behind the Disney-produced Hulu Original Series The Interpreter of Silence

As seen in the New York Times Book Review.

A December 2019 Indie Next Pick!

Set against the Frankfurt Auschwitz Trials of 1963, Annette Hess's international bestseller is a harrowing yet ultimately uplifting coming-of-age story about a young female translator--caught between societal and familial expectations and her unique ability to speak truth to power--as she fights to expose the dark truths of her nation's past.

If everything your family told you was a lie, how far would you go to uncover the truth?

For twenty-four-year-old Eva Bruhns, World War II is a foggy childhood memory. At the war's end, Frankfurt was a smoldering ruin, severely damaged by the Allied bombings. But that was two decades ago. Now it is 1963, and the city's streets, once cratered are smooth and paved. Shiny new stores replace scorched rubble. Eager for her wealthy suitor, Jürgen Schoormann, to propose, Eva dreams of starting a new life away from her parents and sister. But Eva's plans are turned upside down when a fiery investigator, David Miller, hires her as a translator for a war crimes trial.

As she becomes more deeply involved in the Frankfurt Trials, Eva begins to question her family's silence on the war and her future. Why do her parents refuse to talk about what happened? What are they hiding? Does she really love Jürgen and will she be happy as a housewife? Though it means going against the wishes of her family and her lover, Eva, propelled by her own conscience , joins a team of fiery prosecutors determined to bring the Nazis to justice--a decision that will help change the present and the past of her nation.

Translated from the German by Elisabeth Lauffer

Reviews (4)

Publisher's Weekly Review

Hess's strong debut follows Eva Bruhns, who works as an interpreter at the Frankfurt Auschwitz trials in 1963 Germany, in which German defendants have been charged with crimes they perpetrated at Auschwitz during WWII. Eva becomes emotionally invested as she interprets the testimonies of Polish witnesses from Polish to German, but she doesn't understand why her parents, Edith and Ludwig, owners of the German House restaurant, don't seem to care about the trial. As Eva continues her work and makes a trip to Auschwitz along with other members of the trial team, she uncovers secrets her parents have hidden from her about her father's work during the war. The period detail is impressive, but the highlight is Eva, a complex and thoughtful woman who finds herself in the midst of a significant moment in history. This novel will appeal to both WWII fiction fans and those seeking historical novels anchored by a strong, memorable heroine. (Dec.)

Kirkus Review

What is the cost of learning the truth? And who is responsible for telling that costly truth?A prosecutor's exhortation to learn "every conceivable" Polish word for "how to kill a person" is an early signal to a nave German interpreter, called in 1963 to translate at the Frankfurt Auschwitz trials, that she will soon confront truths about the past never before revealed. Eva Bruhns, a young woman still living with her parentsthe proprietors of the eponymous German House restaurantlooks forward to a betrothal to Jrgen Schoormann, her reserved boyfriend, and routinely works as a Polish-language interpreter in mundane contract matters and business disputes. Her sister, Annegret, works as a pediatric nurse while younger brother Stefan dotes on the family's black dachshund. The Bruhns are a thoroughly average family. Eva's growing awareness of the atrocities perpetrated by the Auschwitz defendants, coupled with a vague sense of dj vu, jolts her out of complacency and ignorance about the role the average German citizen played during the war. Eva's increasing passion to secure justice for the victims of Auschwitz, whose stories she absorbs daily, contrasts vividly with the attitudes and actions of her neighbors (and family members), whose desire to leave the past behind is clear. Hess, a popular television screenwriter in Germany, delivers scenes and dialogue in a linear sequence, and it is easy to envision almost any of the scenes (courtroom or dining room) on screen via the straightforward translation by Lauffer. Less linear are the continuing deceptions Eva confronts on an average day, in an average life, in an average city.Questions of complicity and culpability are resolved by prosecutors and daughters alike in Hess' slow reveal of large truths which are obscured by larger lies. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Booklist Review

Set in the early- to mid-1960s, when Germany is still struggling with its dark past during WWII, German author Hess' first novel examines the fallout from Hitler's ""Final Solution"" and asks the ultimate question: Who was responsible? Against her parents' and fiance's wishes, Eva Bruhns offers her translation services to a court case in which former Nazis are being prosecuted. Day after day she witnesses testimony, and silently makes judgments about what occurs. Slowly, early childhood memories begin to assert themselves, and Eva realizes a disturbing discovery about her seemingly respectable family. Meanwhile, readers see that Eva's sister, Annegret, has secrets of her own. Over time, the human capacity for cruelty makes Eva unable to bear the trial any longer. What amount of guilt should a Nazi sympathizer feel when his or her family's life is at stake? Eva breaks away from all that is safe and known and tries to work some recompense on her own. This chapter-less book is organized into four parts and reads somewhat disjointedly, but a translator's note explains why.--Joan Curbow Copyright 2019 Booklist

Library Journal Review

In this fiction debut from German screenwriter Hess, set in the early 1960s, 24-year-old Eva Bruhns hardly thinks about the war until she is hired to translate for some former Polish prisoners. Then she's disturbed enough to join the prosecutors' team in what would become the Frankfurt Auschwitz Trials of 1963. With 75,000-copy first printing.

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Reviews (4)

Publisher's Weekly Review

Kirkus Review

Booklist Review

Library Journal Review

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