Shadows and Joys of a Life in Bavaria

Yesterday, I finally got around to organizing things in my still-cold house.  (Waiting now for Expert #3 to call and come--hopefully to fix the heating.)

Organizing must be the human equivalent of a dog circling a space until she finds a place to lie down for a nap--no sharp edges, nothing to fall or screech or rise up to bite in the night.

Finally, the surfaces were clear.  Objects settled into their intended rooms.  The peaceful reassurance of order.

Then I was ready to open to open the long-awaited book by Gerlinde Pyron: Shadows and Joys of a Life in Bavaria.

When Gerlinde was in writing group, I heard many of these stories read aloud and was always captivated by her memories of childhood in Bavaria.  (This is a book I'd love and tell you about even if Gerlinde and I were not friends!). But in the years since writing group, she's organized the stories and provided new ones that make the book a cohesive and unforgettable narrative, and I don't want to put it down.

This is a memoir in the truest sense of the word--not a chronological accounting of facts and incidents but a poetic, beautifully crafted, word-painting of a time and a place so foreign to the rest of us.  

I'll write more about the book as I continue reading, but I can already heartily recommend this book to all readers!  Her characters and places are so very real--as recounted from the point of view of a child growing up before and during the final days of Hitler's War.