At the funeral of her legendary grandmother Sweety, Anna decides to set out in search of her family’s untold stories. Armed with a recorder, she travels to New York and Boston, to Arad and Haifa, visiting distant relatives, college classmates, and friends of her grandparents. In kitchens that are foreign yet familiar, in small living rooms and large nursing homes, she listens intently: every story entrusted to her is about farewells, emigration, and the many different ways of settling in. Each conversation bears witness to the unique life journey of a single person. And yet they all share Anna’s story – and form the fabric of a moving historical novel of Soviet-Jewish life in the 20th century.
In her unique narrative style, which blends spoken word with evocative imagery, Anna Schapiro weaves a dense tapestry of memories and anecdotes – drawing from the horrific and, at the same time, the surprisingly ordinary – in which humanity finds solace amidst its contradictions.
“This storytelling is so warm, intelligent, and focused that I find myself completely captivated. Anna Schapiro paints with words – what a boon for German literature!” – Daniela Dröscher
Novel
Sample translation
English sample available
Anna Schapiro, born in Moscow in 1988, moved to Germany with her parents in 1992. She studied fine arts in Dresden and Jewish studies in Stockholm. Work and fellowship residencies have taken her to New York, Warsaw, London, and Mexico. She exhibits internationally and teaches at various universities and colleges. Schapiro was co-curator of the exhibition Class Issues – Art Production In and Out of Precarity (2022) at the Berlinische Galerie, as well as founder and co-editor of the magazine Jalta – Positionen zur jüdischen Gegenwart (Yalta – Perspectives on the Jewish Present).
