Book presentation in German: „Schaukler“ by Selma Mahlknecht

A hundred years of history, skilfully interwoven with the thousand-year-old frescoes of St Prokulus, told in an exciting and entertaining way. Selma Mahlknecht, who has already won the Sir Walter Scott Prize for the best German-language historical novel for ‘Helena’, has now published her second major historical novel. In it, she traces the upheavals, developments and transformations of the past hundred years in South Tyrol. The novel begins with the aftermath of the First World War and progresses through fascism, National Socialism and the Cold War to the present day, when the world is once again divided. ‘Selma Mahlknecht portrays an arduous ascent, flanked by ruptures and abysses - sensitively and ironically, bitterly and brilliantly told.’ Hans Heiss, historian.