Dear Mutzi
Tess Scholfield-peters
‘I know you can’t hear me …’ I begin. I look at him, at his resting expression. ‘But I want to read you a scene I’ve been writing.’
Harry Peters—formerly Hermann Pollnow, known to his family as Mutzi—was born in Berlin in 1920. As a teenager he fled Nazi Germany and landed in rural Australia. Harry’s parents, Edith and Max, never saw their son again. Edith perished at Theresienstadt; Max at Auschwitz-Birkenau.
Years later, Tess Scholfield-Peters discovers a box of letters written to her grandfather, Harry, from his parents, who she knows only as the framed black-and-white figures on Harry’s TV stand. She embarks on a journey through her family’s history just as Harry’s memories have all but faded. This impressive debut skirts the edges of fiction and non-fiction, as Scholfield-Peters weaves her research with Harry’s recollections to envision the unknown.
A heartfelt and beautifully written homage to Scholfield-Peters’ forebears, who were caught in the 20th century horrors of fascism and anti-Semitism, and, in her loving portrait of her grandfather, to the survival of the human spirit.
Dear Mutzi goes beyond a personal family history with its themes of involuntary migration, adaptation into Australian society, and resilience, and will strike a chord with readers interested in the history of this period or who have enjoyed historical fiction by Heather Morris.
A highly atmospheric, meticulously researched labour of love.
- Release
- Jun-2024
- ISBN
- 9781922507518
- RRP (AUD)
- $34.99
- Format
- Paperback & ebook
- Category
- Memior
Tess Scholfield-Peters
Tess Scholfield-Peters is a Sydney-Eora based writer and academic. Currently she teaches creative writing at the University of Technology Sydney. Previously Tess worked as senior journalist for the independent community newspaper Urban Village, based out of Sydney’s Surry Hills.
National Library of Australia Publishing
NLA Publishing creates books that tell stories by and about Australians. We explore the Library’s extensive collections to share Australia’s culture and history.
- Rights
-
World
- Contact
-
Lauren Smith
- Website