Sarre
A novel by Peter S. Dubois
In 1955, a dying pastor writes to the son too young to hear his story. Across four generations, faith, family and country have made claims that conscience can no longer leave unanswered.
The Saarland is about to vote on its future. Friedrich Lenz, a Protestant pastor with little time left, begins a letter for his young son to read when he is grown.
He goes back through the family: the wars, the nationalism, the years under the Nazis, and the occasions when he himself kept quiet or stayed where he was. He wants his son to have an honest account, including the parts the family preferred to forget, without handing him the guilt along with it.
Readers who know Marilynne Robinson’s Gilead will recognise the form.
Forthcoming.