Houses of Ivory (Signed Copy)

This compilation of stories brings to life the culture and society in a region of Eastern Europe devastated by World War II, where Poles, Austrians, and Ukranians must adjust to overwhelming loss, new, harsh reality, and a bleak future

This impressive collection of eight stories is divided into three sections, each section complete in itself, each examining, from a different angle, the themes that hold Wegner captive. The sense of place is always the same though the name differs: a provincial mid-European town, just before and after World War I. Wegner is fascinated by the lightly veiled bestiality of the different European "tribes"; all his protagonists are at odds with an alien society. The first four stories loosely follow the adventures of Zofia and Ala, upper-middle-class twin children of Polish extraction living in the Ukraine, and the stories of love and betrayal they either indirectly experience or hear secondhand. Representative is "The Huzul Flute," which describes their vacation in the Carpathian Mountains with their mother and her lover. The second section contains one story, "A Death in a Quiet Town," which recounts from different points of view a hanging by the SS during the war just outside Salzburg. The last three narratives, manifestly the best, follow Dirk, a Silesian teenager who dreams of going to the U.S. after the war while he works in a German coal mine to support his family. With Dirk, the author has found his subject matter; these stories are vivid and extremely moving.
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc.

These eight stories are touchingly nostalgic, bittersweet tales of life in Eastern Europe just prior to World War II, each featuring a startling, often devastating, revelation. In "Cyankali" little Zofia shares a strange, religious ritual with the oddly devout family servant. Zofia's twin sister, Ala, makes painful discoveries about both her mother and death in "The Huzul Flute"; later, in "The Counter of Lvov," she befriends a guilt-ridden Jew obsessed with penance. "Miner's Tatoo," "But America Is Far," and "Butcher's Beguine" all focus on a teenage boy tasting the joys and sorrows of imminent adulthood. Wegner's stories poignantly and perceptively capture the timeless sensibilities of a bygone era. Ronald L. Coombs, SUNY Health Science Ctr. Lib., Brooklyn, N.Y.
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc.