Hester Among the RuinsBorn in New York in 1963, historian Hester Rosenfeld--very American and marginally Jewish--goes to Munich to research the life of Heinrich Falk and becomes his mistress. Born in Berlin in 1943, raised in the ruins of defeat by a generation of murderers and cowards, Professor Falk is neither infamous nor famous--he is simply the German Everyman. Hester believes his life story could make for an important contemporary historical document--kitchen table history. Heinrich is married (four times, twice to his current wife) and has four daughters. But madly in love with Hester, adultery is nothing new to him. As he assists her in her note-taking--about him and his family, about German history--she often suspects Heinrich is covering up something. Was his brother really a Werewolf, a Nazi militiaman who vowed to continue fighting after the war's end? What kind of gas company did his mother work for? And what exactly did his father do during those years? Yet Hester has her secrets, too, and the longer she remains in Germany the harder it is to keep them concealed. As she uncovers more of the Falk family's possible connection to Nazism, she finds herself reexamining her feelings about her own parents and her complicated attraction to Heinrich. As the lovers' intimacy deepens beyond the erotic, each suspects the other of hiding something about the past. Called a rare and remarkable writer by Pulitzer Prize-winning author Michael Cunningham, Kirshenbaum has written a searing novel about history's unforgettable legacy and its continuing impact. |
Contents
Section 1 | 13 |
Section 2 | 29 |
Section 3 | 46 |
Section 4 | 61 |
Section 5 | 75 |
Section 6 | 92 |
Section 7 | 115 |
Section 8 | 128 |
Section 10 | 174 |
Section 11 | 186 |
Section 12 | 197 |
Section 13 | 245 |
Section 14 | 259 |
Section 15 | 270 |
Section 16 | 281 |
Section 17 | 284 |
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Common terms and phrases
Adolf Hitler air-raid shelter American Andreas Capellanus Apfelstrudel author from HF baby Berlin Bettina brother café child coffee Courtly Love daughter dinner Ellis Island eyes father fear feel flat Frau Doktor Falk Frau Doktor Schmidt front German girl hair hand Haushofer head Heinrich Falk Herr Professor Falk Hester HF says HF's Hitler husband imagine Jewish Jews Josef kiss Klaus Falk klezmer knew Konstanze laugh Letter Liebste live look lover Maria married memoir of Frau Ménagier de Paris mistress mother Munich Mutti Nazis never night Nossen notebook paper parents park philo-Semite photographs picture pretty sister smile socks street Sudetenland talk tell Terezín thing Third Reich tick told U-bahn Ulli Uncle Falk wait walk wear Werewolves wife woman women