{"product_id":"library-for-the-war-wounded-9781639732395","title":"Library for the War-Wounded","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eThe internationally bestselling novel-\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cb\u003ea daughter's \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cb\u003eportrait of her WWII veteran father, assembled from shards of memory.\u003c\/b\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ci\u003eWe called him Vati, Dad. Not Papa. He thought it sounded modern. He wanted to present himself to us, and through us, as a man in tune with the modern age. A man who could be read as having a different past.\u003c\/i\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eInspired by the author's family history, \u003ci\u003eLibrary for the War-Wounded\u003c\/i\u003e transports readers to the aftermath of World War II, uncovering the life of Helfer's father, Josef. Born with the stigma of illegitimacy, he found solace in books, and his education was eventually funded by the Catholic Church. Drafted into the Wehrmacht, he witnessed the horrors of the Eastern Front and returned from the war an amputee. He married his nurse and brought his family to the high, idyllic slopes of the Austrian Alps, where he took a position as manager of a convalescent home for war-wounded. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eJosef was a man of many mysteries. To his daughter Monika, none was greater than his obsession with the home's unlikely and remarkable library, his great treasure and comfort as the country barrels away from the memory of war. He will stop at nothing to save it-even when it tears apart his family. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eBeautifully restrained and compressed, \u003ci\u003eLibrary for the War-Wounded \u003c\/i\u003eturns lived experience into great literature by confronting the universal question: Can we ever truly know our parents?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eMonika Helfer \u003c\/b\u003egrew up in Vorarlberg, Austria. Her novels include the internationally bestselling, Schubart Prize-winning \u003ci\u003eLast House Before the Mountain\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eLöwenherz\u003c\/i\u003e (\u003ci\u003eLionheart\u003c\/i\u003e). She has been awarded the Bodensee and Solothurn Literature Prizes, the Johann Beer Prize, and the Austrian Cross of Honor. She lives in Hohenems, Austria. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cb\u003eGillian Davidson \u003c\/b\u003eis a literary translator based in London. Monika Helfer's \u003ci\u003eLast House Before the Mountain \u003c\/i\u003ewas her first published work of translation.\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"Bloomsbury Publishing","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50604853362962,"sku":"9781639732395","price":19.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_8cf4741b-0a24-417d-81bb-5fe76a2aec7e.jpg?v=1732265406","url":"https:\/\/surprise-castle.myshopify.com\/products\/library-for-the-war-wounded-9781639732395","provider":"Surprise Castle","version":"1.0","type":"link"}