Hannah Tillich (1896–1988)

This is a very strange little book. The simplest explanation is that it is the story of a marriage. It is formal in tone, with strange, quasi-erotic passages and sort of a mystery. The narrative voice is dispassionate, giving no emotional overtones to events and devoid of empathy for the characters. Short, 145 pages, it is almost like reading the summary of a longer novel. Maybe the best description for the story is "politely grotesque." As one character says near the end of the book, "It show more was all a freak show, nothing but a freak show."

When I looked Hannah Tillich up on the web, I found her obituary in the New York Times. She was married to theologian Paul Tillich. After he died, she wrote a memoir detailing his sexual escapades. Presumably this book, The Harbor Mouse, is an emotional portrait of how she felt about their marriage and life together. show less

The wife of Paulus Tillich describes their life together - first in Germany, then their escape from the Nazis to America, and their life in New York -- and reveals her own struggle for identity while living in the shadow of the renowned theologian

Free spirit, narcissist, a bit of a light weight. But gives some context to the notorious scandal of Paul Tillich's sexual adventures. She was participating in this open marriage fully.