Flotsam

Ziervogel grew up in Germany and this taut, mysterious novel not only conjures female subjectivities and grief, but it also paints a haunting portrait of the country in the 1950s Germany, with its greater sense of loss, and the looming spectre of crimes committed during the war.

-- Arifa Akbar * The Guardian *

The writing has a dark and haunting quality yet there is much beauty in its concise construction. The story ebbs and flows with the ghosts of the past and the effects of the isolated location. Both Trine and Anna show a resolve that can be unsettling, beguiling – perhaps because young women are not expected to behave as they do. An astute and arresting tale…

-- Jackie Law * neverimitate *

This is not an easy book to write about without muffling the small shocks and perplexities which readers should experience for themselves. Told first from Trine’s perspective then Anna’s, it’s the briefest of novellas yet it provokes more thought than many books three times its length. Written in often lyrical yet spare, clean prose, Flotsam is haunted by grief, leaving much for readers to deduce for themselves.

* A Life in Books *

★★★★★ If you’ve read Ziervogel before you will be aware of her ability to tell a dark, haunting story of loss and grief in mesmerising prose. Flotsam excels in this regard, it depicts the cruel way a separation is inflicted upon the living and the stories we tell ourselves to survive. Flotsam looks at the psyche of the nation, the greyness of the post war world as the country attempts to modernise and leave the past behind. Heart breaking and thought provoking, this elegiac and insightful novella is poignant, timely and deeply intelligent.

-- Paul Burke * NB Magazine *

Anna’s experience of World War Two and the consequences of an event in the War, dominates her daughter’s life. Flotsam asks how will the next generation live in the shadow of such destruction, when so much of that history is left silent? Wonderfully concise yet powerful, Flotsam seems simple while offering a layered intelligence that should be valued.

-- James Doyle * Bookmun