Andrea d

The Jewish girl Andrea D is forced to flee from Lithuania during World War II. She travels through Russia, finally arriving in Kobe in Japan. The narration switches between two levels in time: the dramatic story of Andrea D’s life in the 20th century, and the present. On the present level we follow the narrator through a single day. She and her twin sister are sitting in the attic of their childhood home, trying to reconstruct the life of Andrea D. Partly they are using fragments they find in a black book, partly they are filling in the blanks in the story with their own imaginations. All the while, their senile mother rummages in the rooms below. During the course of the day the shape of the narrator’s own life-story has changed.

This is a novel that touches on historical fact: The Japanese diplomat Chiune Sughiara who helped several thousand Jews escape from Lithuania to Japan, is drawn from reality.

Tiden 2006
296 pages

Praise for Gulldronning, Perledronning, novel 2004:

“Margaret Skjelbred has written an incredibly beautiful book … ” (Verdens Gang)