Exploring the complexities of familial relationships, the narrative delves into the dynamics of love, conflict, and reconciliation within a family. Characters grapple with their pasts while navigating the challenges of their present, revealing secrets that test their bonds. Themes of identity, belonging, and the impact of shared history are central, offering a poignant reflection on what it means to be part of a family. The story unfolds with emotional depth, inviting readers to contemplate their own connections and the frames that define them.
Kathryn Harrison Reihenfolge der Bücher (Chronologisch)
Kathryn Harrison widmet sich in ihren Werken den komplexen menschlichen Beziehungen und der Charakterpsychologie. Ihre Prosa zeichnet sich durch tiefgründige Einblicke in die menschliche Psyche aus, die in lyrischer und eindringlicher Sprache wiedergegeben werden. Sie erforscht Themen wie Liebe, Verlust und die Suche nach Identität mit einem scharfen und oft schonungslosen Blick. Harrison ist auch eine angesehene Stimme in der Literaturkritik und bietet in ihren Essays und Rezensionen scharfsinnige Beobachtungen.







In the tradition of The Hare with Amber Eyes and Running in the Family, a memoir of the author's upbringing by her grandparents in a fading mansion above Sunset Boulevard -- a childhood at once privileged and unusual, filled with the mementos and echoes of their impossibly exotic and peripatetic lives.Kathryn Harrison always understood that her family was beyond eccentric -- they'd breached the bounds of the unconventional. She was largely raised by her grandparents in an outsized Tudor confection of a house on the periphery of Bel Air, which she thought of as "Sunset," her kingdom of the imagination, inhabited by the past and its numberless artifacts. True wandering Jews, her grandparents had arrived in Los Angeles in the forties after dramatic, globetrotting lives. Harry Jacobs had been a fur trapper in Alaska, a soldier in the trenches of the Great War, a traveling salesman in a Model T. Margaret Sassoon had lived a privileged life as a member of a Jewish merchant family in Shanghai, turning down offers of marriage from Russian princes exiled by the Revolution. Kathryn Harrison grew up in an almost mythical realm of their letters and artifacts and stories -- until declining finances forced to sell the house on Sunset in 1971, and night fell fast. On Sunset seeks to recover that childhood, that place, those lives -- and does so with piercing poignancy.
Jana z Arku: Proměněný život
- 368 Seiten
- 13 Lesestunden
Nesmrtelný příběh o síle lidské odvahy. Hluboce inspirativní a plně zdokumentovaný příběh Jany z Arku, kterou roku 1428 „hlasy“ přiměly k tomu, aby sjednotila francouzský národ a přemluvila zdráhavého krále k boji proti anglickým okupantům, fascinoval takovou plejádu uměleckých osobností, jako byl William Shakespeare, Mark Twain, Voltaire, Bertold Brecht nebo Robert Bresson. Byla Jana z Arku světice plná božského osvícení? Schizofrenička? Démonem posedlá heretička, jak se snažili dokázat její žalobci a věznitelé? Každá éra musí převyprávět a přetvořit neobyčejný příběh Panny orleánské po svém a vynikající novelistka a memoáristka Kathryn Harrisonová nám ve své knize Jana z Arku: Proměněný život představuje Janu pro naši dobu – příklad neotřesitelné víry, neobyčejné odvahy a sebedůvěry během brutálně zmanipulovaného inkvizičního procesu a tváří v tvář smrti upálením. Harrisonová obratně proplétá fakta, mýty, folklor, umělecké reflexe a staletí učeneckých a kritických interpretací do poutavého příběhu, ve kterém Janě z Arku navrací její právoplatné místo jedné z největších hrdinek celé lidské historie a akcentuje při tom její ženskou roli.
Enchantments
- 311 Seiten
- 11 Lesestunden
A NEW YORK TIMES NOTABLE BOOK “Part love story, part history, this novel is a tour de force [told] in language that soars and sears.” — More In 1917 St. Petersburg, after Rasputin's body is discovered in the Neva River, his eighteen-year-old daughter, Masha, moves to the imperial palace to live with Tsar Nikolay and his family. Tsarina Alexandra, hoping Masha has inherited her father's healing abilities, asks her to care for her son, Alyosha, who suffers from hemophilia. Shortly after Masha's arrival, the tsar abdicates, and the royal family is placed under house arrest by the Bolsheviks. Amidst the turmoil of civil war, Masha and Alyosha find comfort in one another. To help distract the prince from his pain, Masha shares stories—some embellished, others imagined—about the courtship of Nikolay and Alexandra, Rasputin's life, and their homeland, which is on the verge of monumental change. In their shared fantasies, weakness transforms into strength, and the impossible future feels tantalizingly close. Praise for the novel highlights its sumptuous prose and fresh perspective on the last days of the Romanovs, with critics noting its enduring impact and mesmerizing storytelling. Harrison's work is described as intricately crafted, blending historical facts with rich imagination, creating a literary gem. Join the Random House Reader’s Circle for author chats and more.
Die gebundenen Füße. Roman
- 398 Seiten
- 14 Lesestunden
In Shanghai 1878 wird der kleinen May brutal die Füße gebrochen, um ihren Heiratswert zu steigern. Doch sie kämpft um ihre Eigenständigkeit und muss schließlich ihren Körper verkaufen, was sie auf eine Reise vom Shanghai des 19. Jahrhunderts über London bis zur Riviera der 1920er Jahre führt.
Will has a good sex life - with the woman he married. So why then is he increasingly plagued by violent erotic fantasies that, were they to break out of his imagination and into the real world, would have the power to destroy not only his family but his career? He's about to lose his grip when he attends a college reunion and there discovers evidence of a past sexual betrayal, one serious enough that it threatens to overpower the present, even as it offers a key to Will's dangerous obsessions. This novel explores the corrosive effect of evil - and how painful psychological truths long buried within a family can corrupt the present but, through courage and understanding, lead to healing and renewal.
From the bestselling author of THE BINDING CHAIR, this acclaimed follow-up to her memoir THE KISS delves into the bonds of motherhood across four generations. Kathryn Harrison recalls her childhood when her young mother entrusted her to her British grandmother, a formidable figure from Shanghai. To Kathryn, her grandmother was a master storyteller, revealing tales of a magical, bygone era. After rejecting numerous suitors, she married at 43, becoming the mother of Harrison, who also resisted societal norms. Her mother appeared sporadically, urging unwanted glamour on her shy daughter. Growing up as an observer, Harrison sought to understand these women while carving her own path. In this witty and poignant memoir, she reflects on the ties that bind mothers and children, as well as the forces that can create distance. Harrison explores the legacy of storytelling from her grandmother and examines her family history for inspiration in her writing. As she watches her own children grow, she recalls moments of rebellion, the struggle for perfection leading to an eating disorder, and the tumultuous fights that marked her journey to independence. This evocative book invites readers to explore their own experiences of motherhood, loss, and renewal, capturing the unforgettable moments that shape domestic life.
Die Suche des Wettermanns nach der Stille
- 246 Seiten
- 9 Lesestunden
Er liebt die Stille. Er liebt das Wetter. Er will beweisen, dass die Luft hoch über Alaska wärmer ist als über Nairobi. Bigelow ist Wetterforscher - doch seine wahre Leidenschaft gehört einer schweigsamen Aleutin. Es ist eine seltsame Liebe voller Rätsel, deren Tiefe Bigelow erst erkennt, als die stumme Frau eines Tages aus seinem Leben zu verschwinden droht.
Het leven van een Spaanse vrouw kruist dat van een Franse prinses, die is getrouwd met de onaantrekkelijke koning Carlos II van Spanje, ten tijde van de Spaanse inquisitie in de zeventiende eeuw in Madrid.
Die gebundenen Füsse
- 398 Seiten
- 14 Lesestunden
Shanghai 1878: Der kleinen May werden im Alter von zwei Jahren die Zehen gebrochen und die Füße eingebunden, denn die »Lotosfüße« sollen nach altem Brauch ihren Heiratswert erhöhen. Aber May läßt sich ihre Eigenständigkeit nicht nehmen - auch nicht, als sie ihren Körper verkaufen muß, um zu überleben. Ihr Schicksal ist eng verflochten mit dem ihrer Nichte Alice und nur durch diese findet sie schließlich den Weg in die Freiheit. In eindringlichen Bildern beschreibt Kathryn Harrison das Schicksal dieser beiden faszinierenden Frauen und läßt staunen angesichts einer fremden Welt.
Vatermale. Roman
- 303 Seiten
- 11 Lesestunden
The Kiss
- 224 Seiten
- 8 Lesestunden
One of today's best young American writers transforms into a work of art the darkest passage imaginable in a young woman's life: an obsessive love affair between father and daughter.
Poison
- 336 Seiten
- 12 Lesestunden
Francisca de Luarac, the daughter of a poor Spanish silk grower, is a dreamer of fabulous dreams. Marie Louise de Bourbon, the niece of Louis XIV, dances in slippers of fine Spanish silk in the French Court of the Sun King and imagines her own enchanted future. Born on the same day--in an age when superstition, repression, and the Inquisition reign--the lives of these two young women unfold in tandem, barely touching. Each hoards the memory of her adored lost mother like an amulet. Francica's obsession with her lover, a Catholick priest, will shaper her fate. Marie Loouise is yoked by political expediency to the mad, imptoent Carlos II of Spain. But even as their twin destinies spiral inexorably toward disaster, both Queen and commoner cultivate a dangerous, secret life dedicated to resistance, transcendence, and love. Written in gorgeous prose that has the sheen of silk, Kathryn Harrison's POISON vividlyreminds us of the persistence of desire, the passion that exists between mothers and daughters, and the sorcery of dreams.
Tiefenschärfe
- 364 Seiten
- 13 Lesestunden
Ann Rogers scheint eine glücklich verheiratete, erfolgreiche junge Frau zu sein. Als talentierte Fotografin schafft sie glückliche Erinnerungen für andere, indem sie Hochzeiten filmt, Szenen lächelnder Gesichter zusammenschneidet und peinliche Momente herausfiltert. Doch ihre eigenen Erinnerungen kann sie nicht so leicht bearbeiten – Bilder einer Kindheit, in der sie das Modell und die Muse ihres Vaters war, das Sujet seiner umstrittenen Fotografien. Um damit umzugehen, schlüpft Ann in ein geheimes Leben voller Scham und Laster. Als das Museum of Modern Art eine Retrospektive der schockierenden Porträts ihres Vaters ankündigt, findet sich Ann am Rande der Selbstzerstörung wieder und kämpft verzweifelt darum, dem psychologischen Strudel zu entkommen, der droht, sie zu verschlingen.







