Those Who Come After
Picador, $29.95 hb, 343 pp, 9781405040501
Those Who Come After by Elisabeth Holdsworth
Wirklich, ich lebe in finsteren Zeiten.
(Truly, I live in dark times.)When her mother uttered that line from Bertolt Brecht’s great poem ‘An die Nachgeborenen’, Juliana – the narrator of Elisabeth Holdsworth’s first novel – knew they were in for a hard time. Janna had returned to the Netherlands from Dachau carrying a cardboard suitcase that the Americans had given her. In it was packed the rage that exploded whenever life overwhelmed her. Janna was not only Juliana’s beautiful mother; she was also her deeply damaged antagonist.
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