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A review by dreesreads
The Blindness of the Heart by Julia Franck
4.0
This novel starts near the end, then goes back to explain how the opening section came to be, and then ends 10 years after the opening. I love storylines like this, but it makes it VERY hard to write a review without spoilers.
Helene and her sister grew up in a small town near Dresden. After their father is sent to fight in World War I and finally returns home with a devastating and ultimately deadly injury, their mother has a mental breakdown. The sister both study to be nurses, and end up moving in with a cousin in Berlin. From there, we follow Helene's life as a nurse, wife, and mother--right through World War II. As a cis blonde who takes after their father's side, Helene has a much easier time of the 1930s and 40s than her dark-haired and dark-eyed lesbian sister who looks like their mother. But both have to hide their mother's origins and her mental illness.
Helene and her sister grew up in a small town near Dresden. After their father is sent to fight in World War I and finally returns home with a devastating and ultimately deadly injury, their mother has a mental breakdown. The sister both study to be nurses, and end up moving in with a cousin in Berlin. From there, we follow Helene's life as a nurse, wife, and mother--right through World War II. As a cis blonde who takes after their father's side, Helene has a much easier time of the 1930s and 40s than her dark-haired and dark-eyed lesbian sister who looks like their mother. But both have to hide their mother's origins and her mental illness.