Through Trudi's unblinking eyes, we witness the growing impact of Nazism on the ordinary townsfolk of Burgdorf as they are thrust on to a larger moral stage and forced to make choices that will forever mark their lives. Stones from the River is a story of secrets, parceled out masterfully by Trudi -- and by Ursula Hegi -- as they reveal the truth about living through unspeakable times.

Hegi's writing is lively and graceful, moving across time, space, and generations without faltering or bogging down. While her scope is vast, her great gift is for particulars: Stefan's third wife, Helene, who has a deep-seated aggression in her soul that her mother attributed to her being a "biter" as a child; his daughter, Greta, who lags in school but notices things no one else does--"the reflection of the half moon that swayed on the water like a slab of frost," or the music of her flute--"long notes that sounded like the calls of large birds flying through the night." These moments of poetry open up The Vision of Emma Blau, halting its swirling world with their loveliness.

Hegi is best known for her 1994 novel, Stones from the River, which Oprah chose for her book group, catapulting this somewhat obscure writer onto the bestseller lists. But Hegi was around for a long time before Oprah shined the light on her. She is a born storyteller, a witness to the immigrant experience who is reimagining America's past from the perspective of those who desired that country as a promised land, but who even after 100 years could never quite sleep the sleep of its native sons. --Emily White

In December 1953 Anthony Amedeo's world is nested in his Bronx neighborhood, his parents' Studebaker, the Paradise Theater, Yankee Stadium -- and in his imagination, where he longs for a stencil kit to decorate the windows like all the other kids on his street. Instead he gets a very different present: his uncle Malcolm's family.

Malcolm is in jail for stealing -- once again -- from his latest new job, and Anthony's aunt and twin cousins settle into the Amedeos' fifth-floor walk-up. Sharing a room with girls is excruciating for Anthony, despite his affinity for the twins. But the real change in Anthony's life comes one evening when he causes the unthinkable to happen, changing each family member's life forever.

Evoking all the plenty and optimism of postwar America, Sacred Time spans three generations, taking us from the Bronx of the 1950s to contemporary Brooklyn. Keenly observing the dark side of family -- and its gracefulness -- Hegi has outdone herself with this captivating novel about childhood's tenderness and the landscape of loneliness. Ultimately she reveals how the transforming power of a singular event can reverberate through a family for generations. With gravity and poise, Hegi turns her astute yet forgiving eye on the essential frailty and dignity of the human condition in this elegant and fast-paced novel.

Trudi doesn't know anybody like her. No one with short arms that can't reach coat hooks, or short legs that dangle in chairs; no one small enough to look into her eyes.

No one, that is, until she meets Pia at the circus. Pia is a lion tamer -- strong and fearless and, most important, a dwarf like Trudi. When Pia asks for a volunteer to step into the ring, Trudi doesn't hesitate. And together, they weave tales of a magical island where people are little and never lonely. After the enchantment ends, Pia shares a secret with Trudi: Feeling that you belong starts with loving yourself.

Adapted from Ursula Hegi's best-selling novel Stones from the River -- and perfectly paired with Giselle Potter's poignant illustrations -- this moving story of a girl's search for acceptance captures what it feels like to be different...and then what it feels like to realize that you're not.

The Vision of Emma Blau is the luminous epic of a bicultural family filled with passion and aspirations, tragedy and redemption. At the beginning of the twentieth century, Stefan Blau flees Burgdorf, a small town in Germany, and comes to America in search of the vision that has grafted itself to his mind so tenaciously that he's dreamed of it every night. The novel closes nearly a century later with Stefan's granddaughter, Emma, and the legacy of his dream, a once-grand apartment house filled with the hidden truths of its inhabitants both past and present.

Ursula Hegi creates a fascinating picture of immigrants in America: their dreams and disappointments, the challenges of assimilation, the frailty of language and its transcendence, the love that bonds generations and the cultural wedges that drive them irrevocably apart.

Told with her celebrated prose and clear-eyed characterization, The Vision of Emma Blau is Ursula Hegi's most powerful and absorbing work.

Damit war der Grundstein zu Das Schweigen durchbrechen gelegt. Per Zeitungsinserat suchte die Autorin Schicksalsgefährten, deren Lebensläufe sie dokumentieren wollte. Hunderte von Deutsch-Amerikanern meldeten sich. Die 15 ausgewählten Biografien schließlich zeigen auf verstörende Art und Weise die Entwurzelung, Scham und Wut auf die alte Heimat, oft einhergehend mit einer rigorosen Ablehnung vermeintlich deutscher Stereotypen wie Ordnungsliebe, Sauberkeit oder Pünktlichkeit. Die Autorin selbst ging sogar soweit, sich ihrer blonden Haare zu schämen, wie sie freimütig bekennt. Den Spagat zwischen den beiden Kulturen, den ständigen Rechtfertigungszwang, der viele in Neurosen flüchten ließ, all dies hat Ursula Hegi in dieser packenden, teils beklemmenden Studie über Identitätssuche in der Fremde zusammengefasst. -- Ravi Unger