The Secret – Us Kids Back Then
The intrepid child
As a little girl, Monika Helfer knew a lot of happiness and sadness. Sometimes she was scared, but it was then that she acted particularly bravely. She would sit for hours in a disused well to get to know loneliness. She’d step into the lake even though she couldn’t swim. She’d run out into the stormy night in defiance of the weather.
Often, she had her sister by her side. The two girls stuck together, steadfastly, through many a quarrel as well as times of sorrow. Ten precious stories from the past – told in a childlike, earnest tone that only Monika Helfer can strike.
- Intense and honest – a glimpse into a kind of childhood that no longer exists
- From the author of the fiction bestsellers ‘Last House Before the Mountain’ and ‘Library for the War-Wounded'
- Previous novels by the author have been translated into 18 languages
Monika Helfer, born in 1947 in Austria, is a writer who lives in the Austrian Alps with her family. She has published novels, short stories and children’s books and has been honoured with several literature prizes.
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Linus Baumschlager, born in 1982, studied at the University of Applied Arts in Vienna and has worked as a graphic designer and illustrator ever since. He lives in the Austrian Alps with his family.
