Floating in My Mother's Palm

Hanna Malter, a young girl in a post-WW II German town, obliquely exposes the secret lives of her family and acquaintances. According to PW , ``Some of the parables are a little too neat, but in general these finely tuned, interlocked vignettes convey both the essence of childhood and the spiritual emptiness of a community unwilling to confront the implications of the recent war.'' (June)