Zeiden, in January

Transylvania, winter 1941. As the war begins to get the better of the people of Zeiden, Leontine works on writing a town chronicle. Her childhood friend and school doctor examines SS recruits and follows the actions of the town’s “idiots” with suspicion; young Maria has doubts about working for her Jewish employer. Leontine herself is the only one to speak out against the national frenzy, questioning the messages proliferated by the national propaganda campaign.

As the narrative skips back and forth between precisely recorded historical events, Ackrill interweaves the political upheavals of the first half of the twentieth century with the lives of the citizens of Transylvania.
Ursula Ackrill, born in 1974 in Transylvania, studied German before completing a doctorate in the work of Christa Wolf. She lives in Nottingham where she works as a librarian and author. “Zeiden, in January” (Zeiden, im Januar) is her first novel.

Language: German