Mariana Leky: Was man von hier aus sehen kann, Dumont  Paperback, 9783832164577

ENGLISH: What you can see from here, Bloomsbury

Schon lange kein Buch mehr in Deutsch gelesen, dass so hinreissend komisch, spinnert, rührend und einfach zauberhaft war wie " Was man von hier sehen kann". Habe die Geschichte um Selma, ihre Enkelin Luise und ihre schrulligen  Mitbewohner in einem Kaff im Westerwald mit immer grösser werdender Begeisterung gelesen, weil es mich so an meine Kindheit in einem kleinen Dorf im Rheinland erinnerte und sich gleichzeitig fast wie ein Märchen las  . Wenn Selma von einem Okapi träumt, stirbt jemand im Dorf....Der grosse Erfolg dieses Buches in Deutschland wundert mich nicht mehr, wunderbar erzählt und geschrieben. 

Its been a while since i have read such an enchanting, potty, moving and simply magical novel as "What you can see from here" . I read the story of Selma, her granddaughter Luise and her eccentric fellow neighbours in a tiny village in the Westerwald with growing enthusiasm particulary since i was so reminded of my childhood in the Rheinland growing up in a little village. When Selma dreams of an Okapi, someone in the village dies.....The huge success in Germany of this book is no longer surprising to me, i hope Bloomsbury have the same publishing success. Simply wonderfully written.

 Maggie O'Farrell: The Marriage Portrait, Tinder Press, 9781472223852, large format paperback

(German edition: Portrait einer Ehe, Piper Verlag, 

A book that stays in your head after you have long finished reading is my criteria for an ace read. " The Marriage Portrait" by Maggie O'Farrell defintely falls into this category. 

I was completely drawn in by the fate of  Lucrezia de Medici who became the Duchess of Ferrera at the tender age of 15 and O' Farrells extraordinary writing.  Based on historical facts taking some fictional liberties, the story starts with Lucrezia being convinced that her husband Alfonso is taking her to an unexpected visit to their country fortress in order to murder her.

This delicate, sensitive and artistic young woman who was married off to Alfonso, Duke of Feŕrara by her father Cosimo de Medici against her will and expected to produce a male heir,  was completely ill suited to the brutal and restrictive court life of a noble woman in Renaissance Italy.  Some of the happenings made me gasp. It is a fascinating story and O' Farrell narration is so fine and nuanced.

Loved ever page of it and still cannot get some the characters, particularly Lucrezia and Alfonso, out of my head.