2005 book 29

frieda arkin's hedwig and berti
the story starts in 1938, when a londoner is startled by the arrival of a women who is apparently his cousin (along with her timid husband) fleeing from germany. hedwig is something of your large german braided stereotype, stuck in her family's glorious past. their family routine is changed when she gives birth to a daughter who turns out to be an extremely ill-tempered piano prodigy, and the novel follows the family from london to new york to kansas. i have to say this story threw me for a loop--the "twist" toward the end was entirely predictable, and followed by another twist i never saw coming. the ending is a little bit weak and feels a little bit rushed, but on the whole this was a pretty incredible book, with the character of the daughter being particularly interesting and slightly tragic.