Background for Love

by Helen Wolff, Tristram Wolff (Translator), Elizabeth Power (Illustrator)

In a giddy rush, a young woman and her older lover leave 1930s Berlin for a summer vacation on the Côte d’Azur. As they drive along stunning bays, linger over sumptuous meals and steal kisses on the street, they seem marvellously in sync, each enchanted by the other. But as she observes her lover’s wandering eye and rigid world-view, the woman decides to leave in search of a cottage of her own near Saint-Tropez. There, amid the vineyards and lemon trees, she will forge startling new connections and pass an unforgettable summer of independence and freedom.

Background for Love is an autobiographical novel by the great publisher Helen Wolff, who together with her husband, Kurt Wolff, set up Pantheon Books in America after fleeing Nazi Germany. In the fascinating companion essay, historian Marion Detjen, the author’s great-niece, delves into Helen’s path to writing and the autobiographical context of the novel in her early life with Kurt. Recently recovered from the archive and translated for the first time by the author’s grandson, Tristram Wolff, this is a lushly atmospheric, irresistible novel of passion and self-discovery.

Genres: Fiction, German Literature, Germany, Romance, Summer, Ebooks

256 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1932

Reviews

[Casey · Rating 2 out of 5]

Honestly this book really disappointed me, however I got through it because it was only a little over 100 pages. I thought this would be a nice coming of age story about a women finding independence during her stay in Côte d’Azur and boy how I misjudged this. The only reason I gave this book 2 stars is because it did start to look like she was finally starting to find her independence and that part was great but then it feels like at the end she just shrinked herself again to fit in the man’s life. Also HATED absolutely HATED how she narrated the book centered around this man by making all of the dialogue he spoke as “you spoke” instead. Like “‘how long has it actually been?’ You ask” SO AGGRAVATING! Picked this book up in London because of the description but now I’ve learned I really need to read the first page or two of a book before I buy it because if I did that I would have never bought this book.

[Laura · Rating 3 out of 5]

A 1940s tale of toxic love and self-discovery.

Looking to escape wartime Germany, the main protagonist (the author herself - this is autobiographical apparently) and her lover, are on a road trip to France.

The lover is constantly referred to by the author as “you” - you said this, you said that, you looked at me like this, you enjoy this, you looked at the woman, etc etc.

It’s clear that the protagonist and the lover are not on the same page as each other. She wants more. She wants respect. She wants his attention and his time. He’s constantly seeking the company of others, and engaging in activities she’s not interested in. She continues to cling to him, she continues to want more, to hope that things will change… then the Blonde appears, “You’s” head is turned once more and finally our protagonist realises that she needs to live life for herself and not in the pursuit of her gentleman friend, You.

She sets off through France on her own and comes across a cottage available for rent and spends the Summer here where she finally finds her self-worth again, making some new friends along the way… only for You to magically appear back on the scene and give our Protagonist a decision to make - let him back in her life or heed the warnings of her past experiences with this man.

[Veronika · Rating 4 out of 5]

4,5
sehr kluges und tiefsinniges Buch.

[Brit · Rating 2 out of 5]

I don’t know how else to begin except by saying - I was disappointed. I picked up this book based on its description, expecting to be transported to France, to wander through its landscapes, savor its food, and immerse myself in its culture. I was ready for an unforgettable journey of self-discovery, adventure, and new beginnings. Instead, I found myself trapped in an emotional whirlwind that revolved almost entirely around a messy, complex relationship.

The book is about a young lady who travels through Europe to France with her lover, but as soon as they arrive, things get a bit complicated, and Wolff decides to continue on her own. However, the "you" man - an ever-present yet elusive figure - felt like a walking red flag. He drifted in and out of the protagonist's life at will, seemingly without consequences, and she let him. It was frustrating, to say the least. I kept hoping she would break free, that she would truly embrace her independence and grow from her experiences; but life, it seems, had other plans.

The writing style didn’t work for me either. The narration felt rushed, skipping over moments that could have added depth and atmosphere. Instead of fully immersing the reader in the beauty of travel and self-discovery, the focus remained fixated on a cottage-manor dream and an all-consuming relationship. While I do enjoy romance and memoirs from time to time, this particular storytelling approach didn’t resonate with me. The second-person narration (e.g., "you said," "you asked") felt overwhelming and, at times, almost obsessive.

Structurally, the book is divided: roughly 60-70% of it is Wolff’s account of her travels, while the remainder is Detjen’s exploration of Wolff’s life and history. Normally, I love learning about an author’s background, but since I struggled to stay engaged with the main narrative, I found it difficult to invest in the afterword. That said, I believe those who connect with the book will likely appreciate this additional context and find it enriching.

I may not have been the target audience for this one, but I’ll give credit where it’s due - the cover is absolutely stunning!

Thank you to NetGalley and Pushkin Press for the opportunity to read this book!

[Anneke Guns · Rating 3 out of 5]

Bij eerste lectuur van de oorspronkelijke novelle krijg je de indruk dat het een romantisch verhaaltje is. De stijl is speels en licht. Zelfs over diepere gevoelens wordt losjes overgegaan. Het geheel baadt in het heerlijke zonlicht van de Côte d'Azur, de personages krijgen weinig diepgang. Het zou een vroege voorloper kunnen zijn van chic'lit, flutromannetje, stationsroman. Nochtans is het verhaaltje erg goed geschreven, Helen Wolff hanteert een vlotte elegante stijl. Haar beschrijvingen zijn erg impressionistisch en charmeren door de warmte die ze legt in haar schetsen van Saint Tropez.
Door die positieve ervaringen wordt de lezer aangespoord ook het tweede deel van het boekje te lezen : de achtergrond van de achtergrond, zoals genoteerd door Marion Detjen.
Dan krijg je meteen een heel ander beeld van de protagonisten. Het imago van de onschuldige jonge deerne en de liefhebbende maar uitwat ruwe oudere minnaar verdwijnt meteen. Dit was helemaal geen onschuldig, kinderlijk jong paartje. Ze hebben al jaren een knipperlichtrelatie, en er zijn ook andere vrouwen in het leven van de mannelijke hoofdpersoon. Het essay maakt ook de tijdsgeest duidelijk die erg open was over poli-amoureuze verhoudingen.
Marion Detje heeft grondig opzoekingswerk verricht over de sociaal-politieke geschiedenis op de plaatsen en de periode waarin het verhaal zich afspeelt, en dat vertaalt zich in een heel nieuwe kijk op het leven en de relatie van Helen en Kurt Wolff.
We onthouden dat de echtgenoten Wolff tot het einde van hun levens een erg belangrijke en invloedrijke rol hebben gespeeld in het publiceren en bekendmaken van Europese auteurs in de Verenigde Staten.
Zo is er toch nog een happy end.

[Clara · Rating 5 out of 5]

Die traumhafte Erzählung von Liebe, Freundschaft und Emanzipation in einer für 16 Mark im Monat angemieteten Hütte in Südfrankreich verleitet dazu, “früher war alles besser” zu seufzen, bis einen der Nachtrag in die düstere Realität der 30er Jahre zurückholt. Mein persönliches Highlight ist dieser Dialog zwischen dem Liebespaar: Sie hat ihn nach einer kurzen Trennung gerade mit einer anderen Frau angetroffen und kämpft mit ihrer Eifersucht. Er möchte sie zurückgewinnen.

„Wolf“, sage ich, „Ich möchte am liebsten sterben. Das ist keine Redensart. Irgendwohin fallen, wo es dunkel ist und vorbei. Findest du sie wirklich so schön?“
„Ja“, sagt Wolf.

You go, Wolf!

[Eva · Rating 5 out of 5]

Federleicht geschriebene kleine Liebesgeschichte, die in Südfrankreich spielt, als es noch sehr schön gewesen sein muss, dort hin zu reisen.

[Kat · Rating 3 out of 5]

The blurb convinced me that what I'm holding in my hands is an autobiographical novella of someone who knew Italo Calvino, Thomas Mann, Franz Kafka and many others. I somehow expected to see these people across the pages. Add to it fascinating, yet terrible history of Nazi Germany and this must be a true gem. Well, it turned out to be a different kind of gem.
A young woman with her much older boyfriend travels by car from Germany to southern France for a holiday. They have with them bananas and hard-boiled eggs. This is a surprising detail. The book was first published in 1932, probably written in 1931 or 1932. At the time, bananas were considered a luxury product, available only in big cities, mostly in Berlin and Hamburg (a major port). Therefore, this detail tells us about the financial and social status of either him or her. Only a year later Nazi party NSDAP in order to nationalize Germany tried to discourage people from eating imported goods, such as bananas in a mass scale propaganda. "Eat German apples, not foreign bananas" was one of the slogans. Soon, they limited the imports by law.
They go through Switzerland and are stopped at the border and asked if they have any money with them, and how much, and whether they have tobacco and cigarettes. It's an intimidating experience, and they are surprised when there are no questions at all at the French border.
"We forget the thunderclouds brewing back home in Germany". "Hitler and Hindenburg seem far away". - It's interesting that Helen mentions Hitler, considering that he will become the chancellor next year (1933). She sensed that this man would not bring anything good. Not many people back then had the same feeling.
The couple travels from one place to another until a Blonde woman makes Helen furious with jealousy. That is a defining moment for her, liberating and emancipating. She stands up and walks away. She goes off to pursue her own independent life. Admirable, but... soon she finds another man. And then she lets the first one back in. Why?
To me, the story falls flat. I don't like the writing style, nor the characters. Helen herself didn't want it to be published ever, and I can see why. Why indeed, Goodreads says it was first published in 1932? Was it?
The most interesting things here are these few details and the essay at the very end.

[Yani · Rating 5 out of 5]

✨ Background for Love is a beautiful story of a tranquil summer in the South of France and a young woman’s journey to independence. ✨

(Thank you, NetGalley and PushkinPress, for the eARC!)

From the very first page, this book captivated me—I simply couldn’t put it down. Background for Love is a masterful blend of an autobiographical novella by Helen Wolff, followed by an insightful essay by Marion Detjen (Helen’s great-niece?) exploring the fascinating life of Helen and Kurt Wolff.

The novella draws inspiration from the summers the couple spent in and around St. Tropez, seeking refuge from their reality in Berlin. Helen wrote the story during those very summers, yet she never had the chance to publish it. It begins with a young woman arriving on the sun-drenched coast, accompanied by her lover—an older, wealthy man (Kurt) whom she is deeply in love with. But when circumstances take an unexpected turn, she makes the difficult decision to leave him and sets out in search of a cottage of her own. What follows is a summer of self-discovery, adventure, and quiet transformation.

Though Helen Wolff never published a book of her own, her career as a publisher was long and influential. And yet, it is evident from this work that she was an exceptional writer in her own right. Her work is saturated with delicate descriptions of the French Riviera, capturing not only the stunning landscapes but also the subtleties of human relationships. Her writing invites you to escape reality and soak the golden light of a single summer in St. Tropez. It lingers in your mind, prompting you to savor the present moment, to embrace life, and to seek serenity in simplicity.

This book left me longing for a peaceful retreat of my own. I’ve been eyeing a farm cabin on Airbnb for a while now, and Background for Love only deepened my desire for a quiet escape. We all deserve a summer of stillness and reflection.
Reading this novella has also inspired me to explore more books set in the same era. Up next on my TBR: Save Me the Waltz by Zelda Fitzgerald, Tender Is the Night by F. Scott Fitzgerald, and Bonjour Tristesse by Françoise Sagan.

[Maggie Filipowich · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this story - a great balance of history, connection, character evolution and wanderlust - and beautifully written. The premise of how this story comes to be is even cooler, the second half of the book recounts the discovery of this manuscript after the authors passing with instructions to not read and burn. Helen Wolff was a prominent editor from Germany during and after the rise of fascism in her home country. She was also in an entanglement with another prominent editor/publisher, Kurt Wolff. The story to background for love is somewhat autobiographical of her time spent in the south of France during Hitler’s rise.

[Robyn Manning · Rating 3 out of 5]

Perfect short and dreamy read for a vacation. Romantic but not fluffy.

[Harriyeet · Rating 4.25 out of 5]

rare women in translation find at St Columba's North Berwick
Perfectly captures a summery languor

[Julia W · Rating 4 out of 5]

The novel was written in the early 1930s and has only now been discovered in Helen Wolff's estate by her great-niece. Fortunately, she ignored Helen Wolff's request on the envelope with the manuscript to "burn it after my death or throw it away unread". So I was able to immerse myself in a love story set in a time that I otherwise only know in the context of war and indescribable atrocities against humanity. A young, destitute woman goes on vacation to the Côte d'Azur with her lover, who is 20 years her senior, where she separates from him and seeks her own happiness. And in the end he accepts her independence out of love. An interesting, contemporary, female mosaic piece of literature.("Life is great as soon as you agree with it. Everything else is wrong. Agreeing is like trusting the water when you're swimming, and if you're not afraid, you won't sink. Only fear is wrong. Listening to sounds is wrong. Surrendering to life is right.")

[Jacob Brogan · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fleeting but well-crafted tale that ultimately unsettles many of our modern expectations about the role of personal independence in romance. Ultimately minor, but featuring some truly glorious sentences.

The extremely skippable afterword in this Pushkin Press edition contains two or three useful pages of context about how the novella came to be and why it wasn’t published in the 1930s. Unfortunately, said afterword runs to almost 80 pages (and the novella itself is just 120!), which asks too much of the reader.

[Anastasia · Rating 5 out of 5]

It took me a few days of starting and stopping to truly immerse myself in Background for Love , but once I did, I was truly enchanted by Helen Wolff's writing. The woman on these pages did not just feel like a character in a book, but like an amalgamation of the part in all of us that make's us human. I found parts of myself reflected in her, and it only made the story all the more powerful.

Helen's writing is extraordinary, particularly in how she describe the world around her and her view of it. Her prose is delicate yet impactful, capturing moments that felt both deeply personal and universally resonant. I went into Background for Love unsure of what to expect, but ended up discovering so much love in a story that, for it's time, could only be described as boldly queer. Her independence—shaded by fear yet driven by a desire to escape, to find herself, to feel free—was inspiring both to read and to experience.

While I wished the ending hadn't come so abruptly (I could have read endlessly), it also felt fitting, like closing a chapter that was meant to end. And then came the surprise: Marion Detjen's thoughtful addition of a photograph of Helen's cottage and the deeply researched insights into her very, very interesting life. These pages revealed her remarkable history—her role as a writer and publisher in the shadow of Nazi Germany, where books like hers were burned, and voices like hers were silenced.

Detjen's contribution elevates the experience of reading, providing not just a story, but a fuller portrait of Helen herself. Through her notes, we learn about her publishing history, her resistance to having her works shared posthumously, and her courageous life navigating a world that sought to repress voices like hers. I think it's a poignant reminder of the fragility and resilience of literature, especially works that challenge the status quo.

This context transformed the book for me. Helen’s story—and the stories of women like her—deserve to be told and remembered. Her writing defies the idea that feminine, autobiographical narratives are non-creative or lesser, proving instead that they hold unparalleled depth and beauty. For me, this book was more than a story; it reignited my love for reading.

I feel so grateful this book found its way into the world, despite Helen’s reservations. It’s one of those rare works that lingers long after you turn the last page, a book you return to when you need to learn something or feel something. Thanks to Marion Detjen, we not only get to experience Helen’s artistry but also gain a profound understanding of her courage and legacy.

[Theediscerning · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book's main feature is a novella, once lost to time, from someone who grew to be a publisher in the US when she and her family were forced to flee Nazi Europe. It starts with a flight – a man and a woman, who addresses the whole piece to "you" (ie the man) – but from what? Work? Nazis? Spouses? Either way, they dash at a very early hour in his car from a German city to the south of France, and when there get immediately into the world of sexual, gambling and other shenanigans that are going on. But this soon changes – she abandons him, finds and falls in love with Saint Tropez, and determines to have her own idyll there for the summer.

Oh, and the piece ends with photos of the actual building, and the actual 'she' and 'he'. For this was pretty much inspired by real people and real places. What we learn from the essay that accompanies the piece – almost as long, and too academic to match the lightness of the fiction – is that the actual trip as seen on these pages probably never happened, or certainly not at the same time of year. But it feels real enough, and has a kind of emancipatory mood. She is not going to suffer at his hands, per se, she's not too naive to have ever featured on these pages, but she is going to switch from living as a recipient of a kind of "this, m'dear, is what we call bouillabaisse" relationship to something much more along her own terms. For he's older, a mansplainer, someone who spreads almost across a double bed even when lucky to be sharing it, and the drive of the piece is how she puts more of her own stamp on all things to do with her life.

The fact this spins off quite successfully from the author's experience with a man very much like the one featured, a man who couldn't do with just dandling one woman on his arm, only adds to things. Kurt Wolff started out as an admiring employer of this author, and by the time this was touted to publishers seems to have become her monogamous spouse and father to their son. But it was never published, and the author deemed all her output worth junking or burning unread upon her passing. After many years the estate allowed it to be seen in Germany, and this is the first English translation of anything major by her. All this can be ignored, mind, if the piece of fiction is what drew you to these pages – you don't need to read around the piece whatsoever to enjoy it; you get the feel of the place succinctly, you see the flip of the Fitzgerald kind of high-life, and in 120-odd pages you see a woman encounter quite the switch in character. The heaviness of the academe that follows aside, those make for a four-star read.

[Simon S. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Germany, 1929. The unnamed narrator and her lover are driving to France for a long, free, summer together. Up until now they have had only stolen moments – he’s married – and our narrator is bursting with excitement and apprehension. She’s racing ahead of the car, living the joy of their holiday before it’s started, giddy with the promise of it all.

Soon it becomes clear they have different expectations. She wants the intimacy of a remote, sunlit cottage, a space where they can truly know each other. He, older, worldly, wants casinos, plush hotel rooms, music, and late nights with noisy friends.

Heartbroken, she leaves a note and heads home.

The wandering journey back to Germany brings her to St. Tropez, a shining bay appearing as if from a dream. Captivated, she explores the town and decides to summer here alone.

As she takes charge of her life – finding accommodation, buying furniture, cleaning, cooking, filling her own space in her own way – she discovers strength, resilience, and capability, and begins to hang her life from her own shoulders, not her lover’s.

Written by Wolff in the early 30s, this autobiographical novella (112pp) was found in her effects after her death in 1994. That the language and tone feel so modern may, in part, be due to the recent translation, but that doesn’t detract from the beauty of it. Wolff captures the dizzy rushes and resonant glows of love, whether for friends, lovers, places, or oneself, like no-one else. It’s so quotable that I struggled not to just cut and paste, wipe my hands, and walk away.

This glorious book made me beam with recognition on almost every page, whether for the throb of my own heart, or the pulse of my wife’s. The landscape radiates from the page; the verdant riot of summer days, the velvety twinkling of the bay at night, the chilly closure of autumn. St Tropez and its people become not just background, but the frame for love – they set it off to its best advantage, cast it in perfect light.

Background for Love itself takes up only half the book; the rest is a fascinating essay about Wolff and her work. I was delighted to find two photos of the actual St Tropez cottage in this section.

[Sophia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ein richtiges Sommerbuch, eine Geschichte, die Lust auf Südfrankreich macht, und die einen Anfang des Herbst bereits den Sommer vermissen lässt. Es ist insgesamt sehr schön und angenehm geschrieben. Leider war gerade der Anfang war sehr stereotyp: Die junge, unerfahrene Frau und ihr viel älterer Partner, er Lebemann, sie eifersüchtig. Dass sie dann ausbricht und ihre Autonomie findet und selbstständig zu leben lernt, ist eine schöne Entwicklung, und angesichts der Zeit, in der der Roman geschrieben wurde, ist es auch verzeihlich, dass die Stereotype trotzdem bestehen bleiben und dass das Happy End darin besteht, dass der Mann dann zurückkommt - immerhin, weil er diese nunmehr selbstbewusstere Frau noch mehr liebt.
Den auf die Erzählung folgenden Essay von Marion Detjen wollte ich erst nur überfliegen, weil ich die Autorin und ihren Mann bereits aus Liebe in Zeiten des Hasses: Chronik eines Gefühls 1929–1939 kannte (und das Buch deshalb überhaupt gekauft habe). In dem 100-Seiten-Essay war alles aber natürlich noch viel ausführlicher beschrieben und hat alles nochmal mehr in den geschichtlichen Kontext gesetzt: Kurt Wolff war Verleger, Helene Wolff geb. Mosel hat ihn im Verlag als Praktikantin kennengelernt und hat erst mit ihm, dann nach seinem Tod ohne ihn den Verlag weitergeführt. Die beiden (jüdischer Abstammung) sind aus Nazi-Deutschland geflohen und gehörten zu den vielen Intellektuellen, die sich in Frankreich niederließen, bevor sie dann gezwungen waren, weiter in die USA auszuwandern.
Insgesamt sehr beeindruckend, auch aus feministischer Perspektive (sie scheint eine sehr patente Frau gewesen zu sein), schade, dass sie nicht noch mehr geschrieben hat. Mal wieder ein Fall von "was hätte alles sein können", wenn nicht das Dritte Reich gewesen wäre. Immerhin konnte sie erfolgreiche Verlegerin werden, was neben der Schriftstellerei auch ihr Traum war.

[Haxxunne · Rating 5 out of 5]

A luminous fairy tale of young love
—
In the throes of new love, the unnamed young woman realises that her older lover isn’t going to bring her summer dream to life, a dream of domestic bliss in a cottage with a small cat, that what she wants and what he can offer are simply too far apart. And so she takes her leave of him and finds her own summer dream; and then the book begins. The south of France is softly rendered in Wolff’s autofiction as she experiences her own picaresque adventure, liberally sprinkled with characters both irascible and pitiable. Wolff’s protagonist is young and carefree but also impetuous and entirely too trusting, getting herself into situations of which she has no experience, until her worlds collide and she has to choose whether to fight or flee.

This novella is a luminous, visceral and charming narrative of a much more innocent time, when the world seemed available to everyone. The narrator’s youth is her curse and her blessing; Wolff’s careful first person prose, never mentioning the lover by name but referring to him as ‘you,’ as if she’s narrating to him as a storyteller to a rapt child, drew me in, as if I were the lover. The south of France is as romantic and unattainable as it is now, almost unmoored from time, although we know exactly what happens next to Wolff and her husband. The accompanying essay by Wolff’s great niece gives more context to the novella, and what might have been, if Wolff had tackled the novel form.

Four and half stars.

[Roberta Sapino · Rating 2 out of 5]

PAESAGGIO DA AMARE - HELEN WOLFF
Inizio stimolante: anni 40, costa azzurra, protagonista che decide di trascorrere con l’uomo che ama mesi lontano d tutto. Ma i programmi cambiano.Quindi si ritrova da sola e raggiunge Saint Tropez dove affitta un villino e inizia la sua vita libera e indipendente fino a quando non rincontra l’amato, e… tutto cambia un’altra volta. Mi ero aspettata un altro genere di storia e quindi sono rimasta delusa dello sviluppo anche se la lettura scorre veloce e l’atmosfera della riviera francese affascina comunque. Questo breve romanzo occupa la metà del libro mentre l’altra metà è una sorta di “saggio” in cui viene raccontata la storia della autrice nonché protagonista del romanzo. Dopo la sua morte suo figlio trovò una busta in cui c’era scritto di non aprire e gettare il tutto. Invece la busta venne aperta e ne uscì questo romanzo. Marion Detjen, pronipote della Woof e studiosa di storia, usa come pretesto questo scritto ritrovato per raccontarci di lei, fondatrice di una casa editrice con il marito, la Pantheon books. Dopo essersi sempre occupata di pubblicare libri e scoprire talenti, questo manoscritto l’ha trasformata in scrittrice. Alla fine mi sono chiesta se la Wolff avrebbe davvero voluto veder pubblicato questo libro … chissà …

[Davide Riboli · Rating 2 out of 5]

Splendido incipit, ma poi ho trovato un po' faticoso il flusso di coscienza di cui si compongono tutta la prima parte e buona misura del resto. A volte suona vagamente sceneggiato.

Forse mi ha solo infastidito la questione della busta ruggine: se davvero non vuoi che un tuo manoscritto venga letto, non lo scrivi sulla busta che lo contiene e vai a comperare una tolla di liquido per accendini e una scatola di fiammiferi.

L'estate a Saint Tropez mi ha comunque tenuto compagnia in un bel pomeriggio, strappandomi più d'un sorriso.

Passaggi preferiti

Dunque è esistito anche un santo di nome Tropez. Singolare.

La vita è fantastica non appena la si accetta. Tutto il resto è sbagliato.

[Anna · Rating 3 out of 5]

I am sad the author wrote so little during her lifetime because she was clearly talented. Her descriptions of France are vivid and bright, and the heroine's thoughts and feelings about her messy, complex and toxic relationships can be relatable to many.

The novella itself is only a brief episodic glimpse into her life. However, in the new edition, the second half of the book focuses on the biography of the author and some aspects of German history. And gosh, it was such a slog. I picked this book because I was particularly interested in the life of a woman from Nazi Germany, but I found this part to be dry and unengaging.

Thanks to the publisher, Netgalley and the author for a review copy.

[Francesca Morosini · Rating 3 out of 5]

A short novella followed by an essay almost the same length given some background on the author's life and likely motivation in writing the novella - although, uncomfortably, the essay suggests she didn't actually want the novella to be read or published.
The essay definitely helped shine light on what otherwise felt like a slightly disappointing plot - when seeing it as semi-autobiographical and metaphorical I have more patience with it. There are aspects of the story which it seems assumed that we'll pick up without being told - like that the narrator's lover is notably older than her and that they are fleeing fascism - and which are based on an autobiographical lense.
The novella itself is solid and interesting but didn't quite deliver on its promise in my eyes.

[danni · Rating 4 out of 5]

the dreamy tale of love, friendship, and emancipation set in a rented hut in southern France for 16 marks a month tempts one to sigh, "everything was better in the past," until the epilogue pulls you back into the grim reality of the 1930s. My personal highlight is this dialogue between the lovers:

She has just caught him with another woman after a brief separation and is struggling with her jealousy. He, however, is trying to win her back.
"Wolf," I say, "I'd rather just die. That's not a figure of speech. Fall somewhere dark and let it all be over. Do you really think she's that beautiful?"
"Yes," says Wolf.

weirdly good. reminded me of Daisy Jones and the Six.

[Yasmin · Rating 4 out of 5]

split into two parts, the first section is the story itself, written by the famous publisher Helen Wolfe in the early 1930s, and successfully evokes the beauty and peaceful landscape of the Côte d’Azur, where you could really visualise it and I really enjoyed! Second half was an essay by her grand niece, explaining the historical context behind the book, explaining why it was never published at the time, and pointing out the various autobiographical and fictional aspects of Helen’s story, which I mostly enjoyed (albeit a bit too long and fact-heavy).

[Elisa 19 · Rating 3 out of 5]

È stato per me un libro altalenante...l'inizio non mi ha preso molto, poi però l'ho letto con piacere e agevolmente, poi di nuovo con la seconda parte prima interessante, poi iper dettagliata e noiosa ( c'è mancato poco che non finissi il libro!) e poi di nuovo interessante. La prima parte è il romanzo vero e proprio in cui seguì le vicende dei protagonisti dal punto di vista della protagonista in una specie di flusso di coscienza..ma ho amato il concetto del rapporto che si instaura fra paesaggio e vita e stato d'animo, uno scambio reciproco

[CorrieGM · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mooi geschreven verhaal uit 1932 dat zich eind twintiger jaren afspeelt.
Vrouw gaat met man op vakantie, ze hebben moeite zich aan elkaar aan te passen. Dat is het boek in een notendop. Vrouw komt allerlei interessante figuren tegen en realiseert zich uiteindelijk dat wat zij en de andere figuren meemaken niet uniek is.
Het is absoluut niet mijn tijd, maar de manier waarop Helen Wolff het allemaal beschrijft is mooi.
Er is nog een heel essay achteraan, dat heb ik nauwelijks gelezen.

[Daniela · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ich hatte mir von der Geschichte mehr erwartet. Mehr Emanzipation, mehr Unabhängigkeit der weiblichen Protagonistin. Auch stilistisch nicht so anspruchsvoll wie ich erwartet hatte, es plätschert dahin, ohne allzu viel Tiefgang. Schade.

Fast interessanter zu lesen war Marion Detjens Aufsatz über die Hintergrundgeschichte, über die Wolffs und ihre Emigration.

[Andrea B. · Rating 5 out of 5]

,At my death, burn or throw away unread!‘

Ein absolut lesenswertes Buch. Gerade weil es wohl doch sehr viele Paralellen und Ähnlichkeiten zu Helen Wolff (geb. Helene Mosel) und Kurt Wolff gibt.

»I never saw myself in his shadow, I always saw myself in his light« (Helen Wolff über sich und ihren Ehemann Kurt Wolff).

Das ausführliche Essay ihrer Großnichte, Marion Detjen, ordnet ein und ist ein wichtiger Teil dieses Buches.

[Rylee Curtis · Rating 3 out of 5]

Are you supposed to read the second half of this book?? It could have been so interesting to learn about the author more and her life but it was so dull. The first half of the book was good, you wish the ending was slightly different but the sentiment of finding your courage and making your own choice in life is still evident.