Mrs. Sartoris

The New York Times

Margarethe's first-person account is taut and absorbing in this eloquent translation by Carol Brown Janeway, and the tension is stoked by cryptic flash-forwards to the scene of a hit-and-run. As the story unfolds the reader is kept guessing about which of the feeble men in Margarethe's life has fallen victim to her chilling resolve: ''I had always driven fast cars, for pleasure, and now that pleasure was also being put to use.'' — Julia Livshin

Library Journal

Set in a nameless town in post-World War II Germany, this debut novel by German journalist Schmitter presents a disturbing psychological portrait of Margarethe Sartoris, a woman who has a "talent for being able, at will, to seem healthy or sick, energetic or frail, aggressive or sweet, as circumstances required." After a first love's rejection precipitates a nervous breakdown, Margarethe marries strictly for safety. Over time, her need for stability and bourgeois respectability is at odds with an increasingly uncontrolled restlessness. She has an affair that, by its nature, requires duplicity. But Margarethe is not the only one in her family who lives a secret sex life; she watches helplessly as daughter Daniela's teenage rebelliousness takes a perverse and frightening turn. The story is told in Margarethe's cool, detached voice, and we witness her slow unraveling as she teeters on the edge of sanity, driven by fear and fury, while leading us to a horrific conclusion. The result is admittedly grim, but Schmitter spins a compelling, unsettling tale. Recommended for collections of literary fiction.-Janet Evans, Pennsylvania Horticultural Soc. Lib., Philadelphia Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.