Hedwig and Berti

Thirty-five years after publication of her first novel, The Dorp (followed by other works on cooking and gardening), Frieda Arkin returns to the world of fiction to give us another darkly humorous novel, Hedwig and Berti.

Hedwig and Berti is a saga of the totally unlikely marriage of a grandly Teutonic woman, Hedwig Kessler, and her diminutive cousin Berti, two upper-class German Jews forced to leave their homeland during the rise of the Nazis. They flee to London, then to New York City, and from there, finally, to a university town in Kansas. In London, Hedwig gives birth to a daughter whose broodingly dark construction and immense genius for the piano point back in time to the tragedy of her bloodline.

This is a story of prejudice taken to extremes, both within the domain of a severely class-conscious German-Jewish family and beyond it. The characters are subtle, and finely-honed, and their story is told with grace and unexpected humor. Like Penelope Fitzgerald, Frieda Arkin possesses a rare gift for combining love, wit, and dark realism in the reactions and behavior of her characters in the several cultures they are forced to adapt to.

"Thirty-five years after the publication of Arkin's first novel, The Dorp, her second follows a family of refugees from Nazi Germany as they flee from Berlin to London and then on to the United States. Valkyrie-like Hedwig, statuesque and commanding, is toting along her most prized possession — a trunk full of books documenting the genealogy and achievements of her adored extended family, the Kesslers, who excel at all things artistic, intellectual and athletic — at least according to Hedwig. Her husband (and first cousin), Berti, is so retiring and overshadowed by his imposing wife that he fades nearly entirely into the background. All who know the couple are confounded when they produce a dark, elfin changeling of a child — daughter Gerda, who develops into a world-class pianist by early adolescence (which does nothing to improve her stormy disposition). The Kesslers move from New York to Kansas while Gerda travels the concert halls of Europe; though they have escaped the ovens at Auschwitz, tragedy catches up with them. While the story starts slowly — not much happens until Gerda is old enough to talk — the book is infused with the keen ache of loss, the constant bewilderment and defensiveness of the immigrant and the queer charm of odd couple Hedwig and Berti, by turns furiously miserable and delightfully absurd." Publishers Weekly (Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information, Inc.)

"Within minutes of starting Hedwig and Berti I was declaring it my new favorite novel. Characters and storytelling like this belong in the Fiction Hall of Fame, in the wing reserved for wry and sly masterpieces. I am recommending this fabulous book to every person I pass on the street." Elinor Lipman, author of The Inn at Lake Devine and The Pursuit of Alice Thrift

"An exhilarating and important work, Hedwig and Berti is a book of rare narrative energy. Frieda Arkin draws each of her characters with humor, sorrow, and the sharpest of prose. It has been many years since Arkin's beautiful first novel, The Dorp, but it has been well worth the wait." Peter Orner, author of Esther Stories

"Only lazy and inept writers stock their books with ordinary people. Good writers know there's no such thing as an ordinary person: we are each of us terrifically peculiar. Hedwig and Berti, their furious daughter, and all the other characters who move in and out of their lives are very peculiar indeed, and it is only when we look back on this glinting, unsparing novel that we can appreciate the role historic events may assume in misshaping our special little selves. Ms. Arkin is an excellent writer who betrays her age only in the breadth and depth of her understanding of human nature." Jincy Willett, author of Winner of the National Book Award

"I was thoroughly taken with this wonderful novel. Frieda Arkin manages to charm us into full involvement with her characters, and then takes us on a breathtaking journey through their lives...you will not be able to put this fine novel down. You have in your hands a work of art that will endure." Joseph Hurka, author of Fields of Light: A Son Remembers His Heroic Father

"Arkin's second novel...is proof that the 86-year-old writer hasn't lost her touch....Patient readers rejoice: Hedwig and Berti is well worth the wait." Booklist

"Arkin...has crafted a small gem of a second novel." Kirkus Reviews

"Arkin's ear for her characters' emotional dissonance is part of what makes this novel so satisfying, and so unnerving." New York Times

Frieda Arkin's work has been twice selected for Best American Short Stories and her first novel, The Dorp, was published in 1969 to wide critical acclaim.

She attended the Juilliard School of Music and received her Master's in anthropology from Columbia University. She has written five cookbooks, a gardening book, a number of poems, and articles for Woman's Day, The Christian Science Monitor, The Massachusetts Review, The Georgia Review, The Kenyon Review, The Yale Review, and Yankee magazine.

Frieda Arkin's short stories have appeared in journals including The Massachusetts Review, The Kenyon Review, and The Yale Review. After a long hiatus from fiction, when she turned to raising a family and writing a series of cookbooks, Frieda joined the late Andre Dubus's writing group, prospering under his mentorship while completing Hedwig and Berti. She lives in Ipswich, Massachusetts.