by Lily Tuck
First published 2015
Liliane grows up caught between two worlds: her German movie producer father's life in Italy and her beautiful, artistically gifted mother's existence in New York. As a shy, observant only child, she navigates this divided existence while her imagination runs wild with family stories. She discovers connections to figures as varied as Moses Mendelssohn, Mary Queen of Scots, and an early Mexican adventurer, piecing together their histories across two World Wars and multiple continents. Through documents, photographs, and encounters with diverse characters, Liliane constructs a rich tapestry of family memory. Her journey becomes one of self-discovery as she learns to understand herself through the lens of those who came before her. This autobiographical novel captures the intimate experience of a young woman coming of age while wrestling with questions of identity, belonging, and the weight of family legacy.
Genres: family, literary-fiction, historical-fiction, 20th-century, 21st-century, family-drama
Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: found-family, unreliable-narrator
Setting: Italy, Mexico, New York
Period: World Wars
256 pages · Kindle Edition · Atlantic Monthly Press