Pavel's Letters

(Paperback)

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Description

Pavel is Monika Maron's grandfather. But she only remembers him in black and white. He left his children behind in Berlin when he was deported to his native Poland. Monika can only recall pictures of her grandparents, black-and-white photographs: Pavel perished in a concentration camp. And then, as a grown-up with a son of her own, researching a documentary for German television, Monika discovers letters which her grandfather wrote to Monika's mother, Hella. The astonishing fact is that Hella does not remember Pavel's letters.

Reviews

A raw...subtle and moving book * Independent *
Pavel's Letters has a particularly haunting quality * Times Literary Supplement *
This writer has more reason than most to publish a memoir * Independent on Sunday *
This is the deeply piercing story, both personal and political, of a generation. It is hard to imagine it can be surpassed -- Tilman Krause * Die Welt *
Monika Maron makes other people's memories her own. She does so without moral outrage, telling the story straightforwardly, unsentimentally, not trying to show off her skill. The greatness of this book lies in this discretion: and Pavel's Letters is a great book -- Rolf Schneider

Author Bio

Monika Maron was born in Berlin in 1941, grew up in East Germany, left for the West in 1988 and now lives in Berlin once again. She is the author of the novels Silent Close No.6, Flight of Ashes, Animal Triste and The Defectors. In 1992 she was distinguished with the renowned Kleist Prize, awarded annually to prominent German authors, and, in 2003, with the Friedrich H lderlin Prize.