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The Riff-Raff
- date of publication: 01.02.2020
- 160 Pages
- Hanser Verlag
- hardcover
- ISBN 978-3-446-26562-2
- Deutschland: 19,00 €
- Österreich: 19,60 €
- ePUB-Format
- E-Book ISBN 978-3-446-26732-9
- E-Book Deutschland: 10,99 €
This novel is a powerful and poignant portrait of a woman and mother at the beginning of the twentieth century. Monika Helfer tells the story of her own origins, of a family that is only ever referred to by everyone as the “riff-raff”.
Josef and Maria Moosbrugger live with their children on the outer edges of a mountain village, far away from the other inhabitants. They are outsiders, marginalised, poverty-stricken – the riff-raff. It is the time of the First World War, when Josef is drafted into the army. It is the time when Maria and her children are left behind and become dependent on the protection of the mayor. It is the time when Georg from Hanover comes to the area, a man who is not only beautiful and speaks High German, but who one day also knocks on Maria’s door. And it is the time when Maria gets pregnant with Grete, the baby of the family, with whom Josef will never speak a word: the mother of Monika Helfer.
“Although Monika Helfer’s text is as stark as the Moosbruggers’ soil is barren: there isn’t one superfluous word and no overblown description. And yet, even her most inconspicuous characters are alive and vivid. Helfer achieves this in the space of very few pages.”
- Ulrich Rüdenauer, Süddeutsche Zeitung
“With just a few sharply defined pen strokes, we see this entire ‘riff-raff’ in a way that leaves a lasting impression.”
- Tom Wohlfarth, taz
“In a wonderfully succinct way and enormous precision in her observations, Helfer tells the story and early suffering of growing up in precarious family circumstances.”
- Denis Scheck, Tagesspiegel
“Monika Helfer’s story of an outsider’s fate told in well-arranged episodes with flashbacks and -forwards is masterful. Although Austrian literature from Thomas Bernhard to Peter Handke is full of village dramas, this book manages to find a unique tone.”
- Katharina Teutsch, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung

Foreign Sales
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