Once More from the Top

What holds a family together when only centrifugal forces seem to be at play and everything is straining towards some breaking point? In the end, only their own history. 

Her father’s death and clearing out his home set many things in motion for Rosa that she was actually glad had been lying dormant. After all, the history of the Jeruscher family is an absolute mishmash of quarrels, attempted and successful escapes, longings and disappointed hopes, and the futile desire to find a home somewhere. Now everything is back: memories of her crazy childhood in the 90s, the breakdown of her parents’ marriage, and her relatives in Israel – but also her missing older sister, with whom she had broken ties for good reason.

Powerfully and with brilliant black humor, Dana von Suffrin tells the story of a German-Jewish family that still feels the impact of an entire century of violence and expulsion – and of two sisters who have a falling out and eventually reconcile because there is something that they alone understand about each other.