" A poignant, captivating, beautifully woven family saga. As honest as Elena Ferrante, with the folkloric intensity of Téa Obreht, Last House Before the Mountain explores the ways we reconstruct our family histories in an attempt to understand who we are." -- Christina Baker Kline, #1 New York Times bestselling author of THE EXILES, A PIECE OF THE WORLD, and ORPHAN TRAIN "A master class in literary compression. In just a short span of pages, Helfer brings a whole world of wonder, loss and deep, deep longing to indelible life. How lucky we are that her work is finally available in English." -- Laird Hunt, author of National Book Award Finalist ZORRIE "Generations of family secrets and unrequited love are braided with restraint and compassion in this moving story of a woman's longing. Drawing from the wreckage of war and poverty, Monika Helfer expertly weaves this entrancing tale of one woman's struggle to build a life of love and dignity." -- Tsering Yangzom Lama, author of Scotiabank Giller Prize Finalist WE MEASURE THE EARTH WITH OUR BODIES " [Last House] is beautiful and heartbreaking, and readers will fall in love with Maria.
It's also a profound meditation on the stories we tell about ourselves, the stories others tell about us, how those stories are handed down the generations, and the effect of inherited narratives and memories on our lives. I absolutely loved it. " -- Monica Ali, New York Times bestselling author of UNTOLD STORY and LOVE MARRIAGE "In Helfer's spare, subtle English-language debut, an Austrian family is transformed during WWI . Helfer brings a great deal of nuance to her exploration of female desire and vulnerability, male power, and community division. This should win the author wider recognition in the U.S." -- Publishers Weekly "What distinguishes Last House Before the Mountain from a hundred other family stories is its charm . it confides in the reader intimately.
And when we learn that the story is based on Helfer's own family, the final moving paragraph strikes the reader like a knife to the heart." -- The Observer.