Goodreads asked Holly Müller:

Where did you get the idea for your most recent book?

Holly Müller My Own Dear Brother germinated from a rather dark short story I wrote called 'Krampus' about the Austrian Alpine demon Krampus who accompanies Saint Nikolaus in early December to punish bad children in their homes. A whole world began to unfold and the characters - Ursula, Schosi and Anton - wanted more space to live out their difficult stories. I drew on my family background and their history to write this book; I'm half Austrian, and there was much I needed to learn and understand about the ambiguities and silences within my family, about Austria's Nazi past and about the terrible disruption that came with the arrival of the occupying Soviet troops after the Third Reich fell.

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