Seven Mile Heart

In this novel, Katharina Winkler uses the means of literature to confront violence that gets under your skin and describes the experience of abuse condensed into a narrative and the long, damaged life that follows. Just as the girl, from whose inner perspective Katharina Winkler tells the story, is at the mercy of her father, the author exposes us to a story that spreads from the nursery to all other aspects of life –  because neither a new town, new friends nor a romantic relationship bring relief for a traumatic event that has inscribed itself on the body, mind and perception and often remains hidden out of shame. Seven Mile Heart tells of an offence that is committed thousands of times a day in the families of our society, shattering the taboo of talking about it.

As in her debut novel Blue Jewellery, Katharina Winkler's aim in Seven Mile Heart is to break the silence surrounding women's experiences of violence in families and in love. Deeply convinced that literature can enable empathy and trigger change, the award-winning author finds an impressive language, an adequate aesthetic expression for what nobody talks about.

"I fly higher and higher.
I throw my head back and look at the sky.
With every push, Dad pushes me further up.
I can touch the clouds with the tips of my toes.
I'm not afraid."