Monika Helfer – författare

‘Beautiful and heartbreaking ... I absolutely loved it’ MONICA ALI‘A poignant, captivating, beautifully woven family saga. As honest as Elena Ferrante, with the folkloric intensity of Téa Obreht’ CHRISTINA BAKER KLINE‘The final moving paragraph strikes the reader like a knife to the heart’ OBSERVERMaria and Josef live with their children in a valley in westernmost Austria. When the First World War breaks out and Josef is drafted into the army, Maria is left to provide for her family alone. Every day is a struggle against starvation, the harsh alpine climate and the hostile nearby villagers who see Maria as little more than a beautiful temptress out for the men left behind. But when a red-haired stranger arrives in the village, Maria feels happiness seep back into her life and she faces a choice whose consequences will affect the lives of her family for generations to come.Based on the internationally bestselling and award-winning Austrian novelist Monika Helfer's own family history, Last House Before the Mountain is a propulsive, haunting, multi-layered saga about love, family, and the hidden wages of war.Maria and Josef live with their children in a valley in westernmost Austria. When the First World War breaks out and Josef is drafted into the army, Maria is left to provide for her family alone. Every day is a struggle against starvation, the harsh alpine climate and the hostile nearby villagers who see Maria as little more than a beautiful temptress out to seduce the men left behind. But when a red-haired stranger arrives in the village, Maria feels happiness seep back into her life and she faces a choice, with consequences that will affect the lives of her family for generations to come.Based on the award-winning Austrian novelist’s own family history, this is a propulsive, haunting story about love, family and the hidden wages of war.‘A masterclass in literary compression. Helfer brings a whole world of wonder, loss and deep, deep longing to indelible life’ LAIRD HUNT

''Beautiful and heartbreaking ... I absolutely loved it'' Monica Ali, Sunday Times Bestselling author of Love Marriage''A poignant, captivating, beautifully woven family saga. As honest as Elena Ferrante, with the folkloric intensity of Téa Obreht'' Christina Baker Kline, #1 New York Times Bestselling author of The ExilesMaria and Josef live with their children in a valley in westernmost Austria. When the First World War breaks out and Josef is drafted into the army, Maria is left to provide for her family alone. Every day is a struggle against starvation, the harsh alpine climate and the hostile nearby villagers who see Maria as little more than a beautiful temptress out for the men left behind. But when a red-haired stranger arrives in the village, Maria feels happiness seep back into her life and she faces a choice whose consequences will affect the lives of her family for generations to come.Based on the internationally bestselling and award-winning Austrian novelist Monika Helfer''s own family history, Last House Before the Mountain is a propulsive, haunting, multi-layered saga about love, family, and the hidden wages of war.

''Beautiful and heartbreaking ... I absolutely loved it'' Monica Ali, Sunday Times Bestselling author of Love Marriage''A poignant, captivating, beautifully woven family saga. As honest as Elena Ferrante, with the folkloric intensity of Téa Obreht'' Christina Baker Kline, #1 New York Times Bestselling author of The ExilesMaria and Josef live with their children in a valley in westernmost Austria. When the First World War breaks out and Josef is drafted into the army, Maria is left to provide for her family alone. Every day is a struggle against starvation, the harsh alpine climate and the hostile nearby villagers who see Maria as little more than a beautiful temptress out for the men left behind. But when a red-haired stranger arrives in the village, Maria feels happiness seep back into her life and she faces a choice whose consequences will affect the lives of her family for generations to come.Based on the internationally bestselling and award-winning Austrian novelist Monika Helfer''s own family history, Last House Before the Mountain is a propulsive, haunting, multi-layered saga about love, family, and the hidden wages of war.

From Monika Helfer''s award-winning, internationally bestselling wartime trilogy, based on her own family. Translated into English for the first time.''We called him Vati, Dad. Not Father, not Papa. That''s what he wanted. He thought it sounded modern. He wanted to present himself to us, and through us, as a man in tune with the modern age. Though he seemed to come from nowhere.''Josef was an illegitimate child, a charity case from Salzburg, schooled by a benefactor. He was drafted to fight in the Second World War while still at school and sent to Russia, returning with only one leg. He married his nurse, and brought his family to the high, idyllic slopes of the Austrian Alps, where he took a position as manager of a home for injured soldiers, a strangely suspended, deeply isolated place with a remarkable library.He was a man of many mysteries. To his daughter, Monika, none was greater than his obsession with these cloistered, crumbling books, his great treasure and secret amidst a country barrelling away from the memory of war.Beautifully written, restrained, and memorable, Library for the War-Wounded turns a real life into great literature by confronting the universal question: Who are our parents, really?

From Monika Helfer''s award-winning, internationally bestselling wartime trilogy, based on her own family. Translated into English for the first time.''We called him Vati, Dad. Not Father, not Papa. That''s what he wanted. He thought it sounded modern. He wanted to present himself to us, and through us, as a man in tune with the modern age. Though he seemed to come from nowhere.''Josef was an illegitimate child, a charity case from Salzburg, schooled by a benefactor. He was drafted to fight in the Second World War while still at school and sent to Russia, returning with only one leg. He married his nurse, and brought his family to the high, idyllic slopes of the Austrian Alps, where he took a position as manager of a home for injured soldiers, a strangely suspended, deeply isolated place with a remarkable library.He was a man of many mysteries. To his daughter, Monika, none was greater than his obsession with these cloistered, crumbling books, his great treasure and secret amidst a country barrelling away from the memory of war.Beautifully written, restrained, and memorable, Library for the War-Wounded turns a real life into great literature by confronting the universal question: Who are our parents, really?

From Monika Helfer’s award-winning, internationally bestselling wartime trilogy, based on her own family. Translated into English for the first time.‘We called him Vati, Dad. Not Father, not Papa. That’s what he wanted. He thought it sounded modern. He wanted to present himself to us, and through us, as a man in tune with the modern age. Though he seemed to come from nowhere.’Josef was an illegitimate child, a charity case from Salzburg, schooled by a benefactor. He was drafted to fight in the Second World War while still at school and sent to Russia, returning with only one leg. He married his nurse, and brought his family to the high, idyllic slopes of the Austrian Alps, where he took a position as manager of a home for injured soldiers, a strangely suspended, deeply isolated place with a remarkable library.He was a man of many mysteries. To his daughter, Monika, none was greater than his obsession with these cloistered, crumbling books, his great treasure and secret amidst a country barrelling away from the memory of war.Beautifully written, restrained, and memorable, Library for the War-Wounded turns a real life into great literature by confronting the universal question: Who are our parents, really?

The internationally bestselling novel-a daughter''s portrait of her WWII veteran father, assembled from shards of memory.We called him Vati, Dad. Not Papa. He thought it sounded modern. He wanted to present himself to us, and through us, as a man in tune with the modern age. A man who could be read as having a different past.Inspired by the author''s family history, Library for the War-Wounded transports readers to the aftermath of World War II, uncovering the life of Helfer''s father, Josef. Born with the stigma of illegitimacy, he found solace in books, and his education was eventually funded by the Catholic Church. Drafted into the Wehrmacht, he witnessed the horrors of the Eastern Front and returned from the war an amputee. He married his nurse and brought his family to the high, idyllic slopes of the Austrian Alps, where he took a position as manager of a convalescent home for war-wounded.Josef was a man of many mysteries. To his daughter Monika, none was greater than his obsession with the home''s unlikely and remarkable library, his great treasure and comfort as the country barrels away from the memory of war. He will stop at nothing to save it-even when it tears apart his family. Beautifully restrained and compressed, Library for the War-Wounded turns lived experience into great literature by confronting the universal question: Can we ever truly know our parents?

Die Kinderdorf-Mutter, die ihre vier Schützlinge Mama nennen; der Junge aus dem Flüchtlingslager in Damaskus, dem die Jeansjacke aus dem Rot-Kreuz-Sack ein Zuhause wird; die kleine Kamira, die im Jeep auf Lampedusa neben dem Heiligen Vater sitzen darf; der Lastwagenfahrer, der unversehens in eine Familie gerät und Schluss macht mit dem Alleinsein; oder das Mädchen Fila, das dem sterbenden Herrn Montebello die Hand halten soll - sie alle bieten den Widrigkeiten des Lebens mutig die Stirn und zeigen, wie man daran wachsen kann. Fein und präzise webt Monika Helfer ihre berührenden Geschichten, die von sensiblen Zeichnungen von Lorenz Helfer begleitet werden. Mit viel Gespür für die leisen Töne des Zwischenmenschlichen erzählt die Autorin vom ersten Glück und dem letzten Atemzug, von fremden Müttern und neuen Leben, von ungebrochener Hoffnung und der rettenden Kraft der Zuwendung.

33 MENSCHLICHE CHARAKTERTYPEN - ACHTUNG: SELBSTERKENNTNIS-GEFAHR!Sind Sie der Erfolgsverwöhnte oder mehr der Versagende? Die Schweigerin oder doch eher die Auseinandersetzerin? Der Immerzu-Dankbare, der Nimmersatte oder gar die Feinste von den Feinen? Monika Helfer und Michael Köhlmeier stellen uns einen bunten Reigen an menschlichen Charaktertypen vor. Fantasievoll und erfinderisch erzählt das Schriftstellerehepaar vom Kunstverliebten und dem Magenleidenden, vom Gewohnheitsmenschen, der Einsamen und der Eingebildet-Vergesslichen. Und wer sich vor Selbsterkenntnis nicht scheut, kann sich im ein oder der anderen wiedererkennen. DIE EINZIGE ANTIKE CHARAKTERLEHRE MODERN INTERPRETIERT Als Nacherzähler antiker Stoffe beliebt und geschätzt, hat Köhlmeier gemeinsam mit seiner Frau den griechischen Philosophen Theophrast für das 21. Jahrhundert entdeckt. Die "Charaktere" des Theophrast, Nachfolger des großen Aristoteles in dessen Schule, bilden die erste und einzige Charakterlehre des Hellenismus, die zum Vorbild wurde für viele folgende bis hin zu Elias Canettis "Der Ohrenzeuge". Mit Blick auf den Menschen der Gegenwart betreiben Monika Helfer und Michael Köhlmeier seine berühmten Charakterstudien weiter. Anhand von besonderen und alltäglichen Situationen oder auch gewitzten Dialogen halten sie uns den Spiegel vor - ein Geschenkbuch mit philosophischem Mehrwert und Selbsterkenntnis-Gefahr.

War die Krawatte früher nicht aus der täglichen Garderobe wegzudenken, fristet sie heute häufig ein vereinsamtes Dasein in Schränken und wird nur noch zu Hochzeiten oder Begräbnissen hervorgeholt. Und dennoch ist eine jede Krawatte ein Zeuge: der Persönlichkeit seines Trägers oder seiner Trägerin, der Zeit, der sie entstammt, von Erlebtem und Erlittenem. Die Bestsellerautor*innen Monika Helfer und Michael Köhlmeier, beides meisterhafte Erzähler, lassen sich von den Krawatten aus der einmaligen Sammlung von Gerald Matt inspirieren und erzählen deren Geschichten – so elegant, vielfältig und skurril wie dieses i-Tüpfelchen der Bekleidung selbst. Mit einem Nachwort von Gerald Matt zur Kulturgeschichte der Krawatte.

Das Lachen ist eine der schönsten Verhaltensweisen des Menschen und zugleich eine der geheimnisvollsten. Es dient nicht nur dem unmittelbaren Ausdruck von Freude und Zuneigung, sondern auch von Spott und Häme. Es vereint und entzweit, kann Angst bekämpfen und hervorrufen, entlastet, heilt und lässt die Welt mitunter für einen Augenblick zu einem Ort des absoluten Glücks werden. Kein Wunder, dass sich Literaten und Künstler seit jeher dieses Themas angenommenhaben. So auch Michael Köhlmeier, Franz Hohler, Root Leeb, Monika Helfer, Nataša Dragnić und Rafik Schami, die in den Kurzgeschichten dieses Bandes gewitzt und originell von diesem einzigartigenPhänomen erzählen. Ein großes Lesevergnügen nach einer Themenidee von Michael Köhlmeier!