Visitation

A house on the forested bank of a Brandenburg lake outside Berlin (once belonging to Erpenbeck’s grandparents) is the focus of this compact, beautifulnovel. Encompassing over one hundred years of German history, from the nineteenth century to the Weimar Republic, from World War II to the Socialist German Democratic Republic, and finally reunification and its aftermath, Visitationoffers the life stories of twelve individuals who seek to make their home in thisone magical little house. The novel breaks into the everyday life of the houseand shimmers through it, while relating the passions and fates of its inhabitants.Elegant and poetic, Visitation forms a literary mosaic of the last century, tearingopen wounds and offering moments of reconciliation, with its drama and its exquisite evocation of a landscape no political upheaval can truly change.