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Martha and Her Kin
Martha was a formidable woman who rose from a poor background to achieve modest prosperity. But she could never forget the memories of her deprived childhood as a child labourer with a farming family in the Bernese hinterlands: Show no weakness. Work relentlessly. Be tough on yourself and others. These beliefs also influenced her sons, who were determined to succeed in the post-war period, and her grandchildren, who rebel and, for the first time, dare to dream of a different, freer life.
The most personal novel by the Swiss bestselling author.
304 pages
2024
978-3-257-24805-0
»The touching report about a woman who knew nothing in her life but work – for her the only way into safety, into freedom.«
»Straight and simple, Hartmann tells his own family history and shows once more what an empathetic observer he is.«
»It is a novel in which there’s a lot to learn about Switzerland and its development in the 20th century.«
»It is in fact puzzling how such an everyday story develops such a pull. Maybe it’s because while reading, you are happy that times have changed.«
»In Martha and Her Kin, the biographies of ordinary people merge into an extraordinary narration about Swiss society – a narration from its core.«
»Lukas Hartmann's autobiographical novel Martha and her Kin is a precise and moving piece of history of Swiss mentality in the 20th century.«