Julya Rabinowich

Madina and her family have fled a country in the middle east that has been plagued by war to seek refuge in Germany. They are living in very cramped conditions with other families in a black of flats in poverty as they await the "letter" that will tell them their prayers have been answered and they have been accepted for asylum in the country. As their wait drags on, Madina attends a local high school and slowly makes friends although she tries to hide how she lives and also must obey the strict rules her father imposes on her - she can't even have a sleep over at her friend's place because she has an older brother under the same roof. The weeks drag on to months and Madina's father struggles to get a job because his German is very poor and he is also inflexible in the way he views the world. In fact, as time goes by, he seems to beleive more and more that he has made a terrible mistake bringing the family to Germany and suddenly he announces that he wants to return to the country they have fled. Madina's whole family is then ripped apart by his decision. Heart-wrenching book that follows the story AFTER the journey from the war - how the struggles don't stop but continue on.… (more)

An engaging novel about a family that emigrate to Vienna from Russia, told from the point of view of Mischka, seven at the time the family moves. She introduces the reader to her parents, her grandmother and later to her sister. Mischka finds the move to Austria difficult, the world that she has known up until seven has disappeared and she struggles to adapt to the new life. This is a dark and often sad novel about the family, with occasional patches of humour.
There is little sense of time in the novel, Julya Rabinowich gives us vignettes of family life, glimpses into 1970s and 1980s Austria. Russia is always present.
The novel is well written and easy to read and enjoy. The deeper meanings are more difficult to grasp hold of and I struggled to find the themes of this novel, beyond the theme of mental ill health, as the title suggests and adolescence and family life.… (more)