Why a Booktrail?
1945: Leo takes his grandmothers words as he is led to the gulag
The Hunger Angel
What you need to know before your trail
‘I know you’ll return.’ These are his grandmother’s last words to him. Leo has them in his head as he boards the truck to Russia one freezing mid-January morning in 1945. They keep him alive – through hunger, pain, and despair – during his time in the Gulag. And, eventually, they will bring him back home.
Travel Guide
The story behind the story
Herta Müller was born on 17 August 1953 in Nitzkydorf (Banat/Romania). Her parents belonged to the German-speaking minority. Her father was a lorry driver, her mother a peasant. She attended school and university in Temeswar. After refusing to work for the Romanian secret service, the Securitate, she lost her job as translator in a machine factory. Nadirs, her first book, lay around at the publishers for four years and was heavily censored when it was eventually published. The manuscript was smuggled to Germany and published in 1984. In 1987, she emigrated to Germany and has lived in Berlin ever since.
BookTrail Boarding Pass: The Hunger Angel
Destination: Romania, Russia Author/guide: Herta Müller Departure Time: 1945
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