Paula

'Sandra Hoffmann is one of Germany’s most exciting contemporary writers. [...] An incredibly dense, finely woven text that immediately grabs you and pulls you mercilessly in.' Brigitte Woman

* Brigitte Woman *

'[Hoffmann] creates a biography that goes beyond the individual destiny of the cleaning lady Paula. [...] A clever and touching book of memories.' Deutschlandfunk Kultur

* Deutschlandfunk Kultur *

'Paula is a touching piece of contemporary history, in which the writer artfully links reality and fiction and sketches a cautious portrait of a woman who had to deal with repeated blows of fate during World War II and the post-war era.' Judges’ statement, Hans Fallada Prize 2017

* Judges’ statement, Hans Fallada Prize 2017 *

'Hoffmann’s novel is a book of memories that faces up to the writer’s own history and family. Sandra Hoffmann does so by turns gently, touchingly, drastically; but always truthfully. Her writing is marked out by clarity and intense density. There is always a brightness shining into her work, a brightness aware of the dark.’ Deutschlandfunk

* Deutschlandfunk *

'Sandra Hoffmann’s new book Paula revolves undisguisedly around her own childhood, her difficult grandmother. Despite its introspection, we also find out plenty about our own society, about war and trauma.' Süddeutsche Zeitung

* Süddeutsche Zeitung *

'Sandra Hoffmann approaches what nobody speaks about. The scraps of memory, tiny imaginings that form a leifmotif in the book. […] The narrator refuses to sugar-coat a thing. That too makes this small book a big reading experience.' SWR2

* SWR2 *

'Paula is not only a reconstruction, it is also the author’s way of writing herself free. That is both tragic and fascinating, since Sandra Hoffmann knows how to create a whole family history using a few photos and impressive scenes.' Luxemburger Tageblatt

* Luxemburger Tageblatt *

'All of this is narrated on different time levels, densely atmospheric, skilfully interweaving past and present, and the writer needs only 158 pages to tell the essence of her story. [..] Despite the brevity, the narrator creates a vivid picture of a generation and an era.' fixpoetry

* fixpoet