Floating in My Mother's Palm

by Ursula Hegi

Part of Burgdorf Cycle, book 2

First published 1990

Hanna Malter walks through her small German town in the years after the war, watching adults exchange careful glances and halt conversations when children draw near. Her mother runs their household with quiet efficiency while her father works to rebuild what was lost. But Hanna notices things. She sees how certain neighbors avoid eye contact, how some families left town and never returned, how her teacher's voice changes when discussing recent history. Through overheard fragments and observed silences, Hanna pieces together what happened in her community during the war years. Each small revelation adds weight to her understanding of the adults around her and the burden they carry. The girl who once moved freely through her world now recognizes the invisible boundaries that guilt and complicity have drawn. As Hanna grows older, she must decide how to carry forward both the love she feels for her family and neighbors and the difficult truths she has learned about their past.

Genres: literary-fiction, historical-fiction, 20th-century, family-drama

Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking

Tropes: unreliable-narrator

Setting: Germany

Period: Post-World War II

192 pages · Hardcover · Simon & Schuster

More by Ursula Hegi

• Stones from the River
• Hotel of the Saints
• Children and Fire
• Flotando en la palma de la mano di mi madre
• The Vision of Emma Blau

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