Seal Woman - Paperback

by Solveig Eggerz (Author)

Having answered a Berlin newspaper advertisement for "strong women who can cook and do farm work," Sophie Charlotte finds herself married with two sons on an Icelandic sheep farm, trying to sever cords of memory that lead back to the powerful love she knew in Germany and all that she lost there. When World War II began, Charlotte was attached to a supremely talented but politically furious painter in Berlin. But she would lose him twice: first to the resistance and then to the camps. More wounding for Charlotte, however, is the unforgiving trace of their daughter, Lena, who at five years old tragically disappeared into the chaos of the War.

This is an extraordinarily beautiful saga that links sure-footed portraits of wartime Berlin and the severity of life in the Icelandic countryside. Moving and genuinely affirming, Seal Woman is a many-colored portrayal of a strong woman's life broken in two stark and unforgiving worlds separated by the North Atlantic.

Author Biography

A native of Iceland, Solveig Eggerz spent her early childhood there, but then her family also lived in Germany, England and the U.S. She has a Ph.D. in medieval English, German, and Scandinavian comparative literature from Catholic University. An accomplished writer, she has worked as a journalist and as a professor of writing and research, and she currently teaches creative writing in the D.C. area.

Solveig has a family history of writing and storytelling: "I've carried the stories my forefathers told in my heart all my life. My great-great grandfather, Friðrik Eggerz, a farmer and a protestant minister, wrote his autobiography when he was in his eighties, a book that documented 19th century Icelandic regional history; my grandfather, Sigurður Eggerz, twice prime minister, wrote plays and essays. My father, Pétur Eggerz, a foreign service officer, was a best-selling author in Iceland and wrote fiction and nonfiction until the day he died at age 80."