What Remains at the End
What Remains at the End by Alexandra Ford, published by Seren in 2019, is a historical fiction novel that explores the aftermath of World War II through the lens of personal and collective trauma. The narrative follows a young married woman who embarks on a journey with her lover to uncover the truth behind her grandparents’ flight to America, set against the backdrop of the expulsion and suffering of Yugoslavia’s ethnic Germans, particularly the Schwabians. This edition spans 247 pages and is presented in English.
Readers will find a dual timeline that alternates between the late 1940s and contemporary Serbia, revealing the complexities of a dysfunctional marriage and a new relationship. As the protagonist delves deeper into her family’s past, she confronts the horrors of genocide and the impact of unspoken truths. The story intricately weaves themes of memory, loss, and the search for identity, highlighting the connections between personal relationships and the broader historical context of political ideology.
Official synopsis Publisher
In the aftermath of World War II, hundreds of thousands of Yugoslavia’s ethnic Germans – Schwabians – were expelled by Tito’s Partisan regime. A further sixty-thousand were killed.
Seventy years later, a young married woman travels with her lover to find the truth behind her grandparents’ flight to America. Alternating between the late 1940s and contemporary Serbia, the woman’s story of a dysfunctional marriage and new relationship is interwoven with her growing knowledge of the nightmare horrors of genocide. As her journey unfolds the woman gains connection to the unidentified lost, to the memory of her grandfather, to the man beside her, and to her grandmother suffering from Alzheimer’s back home in America.
What Remains at the End considers what happens when the truth goes unspoken and asks how it can be recovered – if there is anything left to recover in the face of so many secrets. Alexandra Ford has written an intriguing debut novel of personal relationships played out against some of the very worst results of realpolitik, where human life is subjugated to political and national ideology.
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