Overview

The extraordinary love story of an American blueblood and a German aristocrat—and a riveting tale of survival in wartime Germany Sigrid MacRae’s family story, A World Elsewhere, reads like an enthralling novel—one that would have remained unwritten had her mother, Aimée, not given her daughter the letters and journals she car­ried out of Germany during World War II. While visiting Paris in 1927, Aimée, a wealthy American debutante, falls in love with Heinrich, a charming yet penniless Baltic German aristocrat. They marry, but life in 1930s Germany is bleak. Two years into the war, Heinrich volunteers for the Russian front. Left to fend for herself, and living in a country at war with her homeland, Aimée gathers her six young chil­dren and flees the advancing Russian army on an epic journey back to the country she thought she left behind.

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9780143127482

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<i>A World Elsewhere</i> is a literary masterpiece, fully realized, and a perfect work of art, a daughter s eloquent monument to her courageous mother. It is also a reminder that war spares no one but wounds everyone it touches. Edmund White, author of<i> Inside a Pearl</i> This is family history as story, carefully researched, beautifully written, and impossible to put down. Blaine Harden, <i>New York Times </i>bestselling author of <i>Escape from Camp 14</i> <i>A World Elsewhere</i> is extraordinarily brave and intensely disturbing....MacRae had access to a cache of letters than any family historian would kill for, and she does a superlative job of combining the most intimate familial details with the sweep of big, convulsive history. David Laskin, author of <i>The Family</i> Only a person of superb literary gifts and exquisite sensibility could have done justice to this great story. The excitements and horrors of wartime are brought vividly to life, and the reader remains spellbound with each turn of the von Hoyningen-Huene family saga. The heroic mother, the romantic, idealistic father, the band of beautiful spunky children I will never forget any of them. Sigrid Nunez, author of <i>Sempre Susan: A Memoir of Susan Sontag</i> This subtle, beautifully crafted book tells a moving story of love, exile and survival from the frozen Neva river to the Loire valley, from Hitler's Berlin to the shores of Maine. A vivid family memoir and an unforgettable portrait of a woman who braved all to bring her family to safety. Caroline de Margerie, author of <i>American Lady</i> Sigrid MacRae manages tofind a window into Germany during World War II we've never looked through before, an unputdownable true story of courage and love, beautifully realised on the page, anda reading experience that will break your heart in a good way. Mary-Rose MacColl, author of <i>In Falling Snow</i> In this compulsively readable telling of an American mother s escape with six children from wartime Germany, Sigrid MacRae brings to life the struggle faced by refugees everywhere, as well as acts of kindness that redeem the atrocities of war.I rooted for Aimee s ingenuity and courage all the way home! April Smith, author of <i>A Star for Mrs. Blake</i> Deftly fashioned....MacRae does a fine job of portraying the fear and uncertainty felt by her mother, living in a strange land and torn by loyalties. <i>Kirkus</i> <i> Readers would have to have the proverbial hearts of stone not to sympathize viscerally and be moved by Aimee and her story. The Washington Times</i>

A World Elsewhere is a literary masterpiece, fully realized, and a perfect work of art, a daughter's eloquent monument to her courageous mother. It is also a reminder that war spares no one but wounds everyone it touches. --Edmund White, author of Inside a Pearl This is family history as story, carefully researched, beautifully written, and impossible to put down. --Blaine Harden, New York Times bestselling author of Escape from Camp 14 A World Elsewhere is extraordinarily brave and intensely disturbing....MacRae had access to a cache of letters than any family historian would kill for, and she does a superlative job of combining the most intimate familial details with the sweep of big, convulsive history. --David Laskin, author of The Family Only a person of superb literary gifts and exquisite sensibility could have done justice to this great story. The excitements and horrors of wartime are brought vividly to life, and the reader remains spellbound with each turn of the von Hoyningen-Huene family saga. The heroic mother, the romantic, idealistic father, the band of beautiful spunky children--I will never forget any of them. --Sigrid Nunez, author of Sempre Susan: A Memoir of Susan Sontag This subtle, beautifully crafted book tells a moving story of love, exile and survival from the frozen Neva river to the Loire valley, from Hitler's Berlin to the shores of Maine. A vivid family memoir and an unforgettable portrait of a woman who braved all to bring her family to safety. --Caroline de Margerie, author of American Lady Sigrid MacRae manages to find a window into Germany during World War II we've never looked through before, an unputdownable true story of courage and love, beautifully realised on the page, and a reading experience that will break your heart in a good way. --Mary-Rose MacColl, author of In Falling Snow In this compulsively readable telling of an American mother's escape with six children from wartime Germany, Sigrid MacRae brings to life the struggle faced by refugees everywhere, as well as acts of kindness that redeem the atrocities of war. I rooted for Aimee's ingenuity and courage all the way home! --April Smith, author of A Star for Mrs. Blake Deftly fashioned....MacRae does a fine job of portraying the fear and uncertainty felt by her mother, living in a strange land and torn by loyalties. -- Kirkus Readers would have to have the proverbial hearts of stone not to sympathize viscerally and be moved by Aimee and her story. -- The Washington Times

Author Information

Sigrid MacRae is the coauthor of Alliance of Enemies, about the undercover collaboration between the American OSS and the German Resistance to end WWII. She holds a graduate degree in Art History from Columbia. She lives in New York City.

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