The Fifth Year

It only took 75 years for the German-to-English translation of this novella, and I can promise you it’s worth the wait. We follow five-year-old Marili through four seasons on her grandparents’ farm in the Austrian mountains, raised by a grandfather who is cheerful and warm and a grandmother who is loving and tender but carries a deep sadness after Marili’s parents died in the war. Experiencing all that through a child’s eyes is a delight, and my favorite element of this book is its attention to nature.

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