Blind Side of the Heart

Amid the chaos of civilians fleeing west in a provincial German railway station in 1945 Helene has brought her seven-year-old son. Having survived with him through the horrors and deprivations of the war years, she abandons him on the station platform and never returns. This is a tale of hope, loneliness and love, and of a life lived in terrible times. It is a great family novel, a powerful portrayal of an era, and the story of a fascinating woman. Shortlisted for the Independent Foreign Fiction Prize 2010. "The opening of Julia Frank's novel is among the most powerful in recent years, a narrative so assured that the reader is gripped...This is a great, big silence-breaker of a novel, a laser beam into the German darkness from a writer who, one feels, has a great deal more to say" -- Norman Lebrecht Evening Standard "Franck's command of the language of misery and loss is awesome, but so is her gift for describing the warmth of burgeoning life when things are going right" -- Melissa Katsoulis The Times "One of the most haunting works I have ever read about 20th century Germany...The book's moral perspective is faultless, as is Franck's sensitivity to character, sexuality and the struggle to be a free woman in a fascist society...The Blind Side of the Heart is a masterpiece" -- Julia Pascal The Independent "It is not surprising that this book won the German Book Prize... It is a rich moving and complex novel" -- Allan Massie The Scotsman "Elegant novel ... Franck's great strength is her ability to place her characters in unenviable situations yet retain the reader's sympathy" -- Gordon Darroch Herald.