Wow! eBook
This Must Be the Place
Author(s): Anna Winger (Author)
- Publisher: Riverhead Hardcover
- Publication Date: August 14, 2008
- Edition: First Edition
- Language: English
- Print length: 320 pages
- ISBN-10: 9781594489976
- ISBN-13: 9781594489976
Book Description
In Berlin, two very different people–Walter Baum, a fading actor nearing forty, living alone, and adrift, and Hope, a young American woman dealing with her painful memories and loneliness–find solace in their unlikely, growing friendship, a relationship that helps them both reconcile their dreams for the future with the pain of the past. A first novel. 30,000 first printing.
Editorial Reviews
From Booklist
Set in West Berlin in 2001, Winger’s debut novel chronicles a turning point in the lives of two suffering souls. Hope is an American who followed her economist husband to Berlin after a tragedy at home. Walter is a German actor, famous in his youth, who now spends his days dubbing Tom Cruise’s lines in box-office hits. After glimpsing each other around the building in which they both live, Hope and Walter officially meet when Hope, homesick and lonely, knocks on Walter’s door. As their friendship unfolds, so do their stories: Hope’s unhappiness in her marriage, her failed pregnancy, her struggles to fit in as an American in Berlin; Walter’s recent breakup with a young and successful actress, his fear of aging, his troubled connection to his parents and his past. Winger’s novel bravely takes on themes of remorse, regret, and responsibility, both social and personal, as the story unfolds on dreary winter streets burdened with the weight of history. The plot sometimes feels pushed, but Winger’s compassion for her characters makes her a writer worth watching. –Heather Dewar
About the Author
Anna Winger grew up in Kenya, Massachusetts, and Mexico as the daughter of Harvard anthropologists. Today she is a professional photographer and the producer of NPR WorldwideÂs ÂBerlin Stories, as well as a writer who has contributed to The New York Times Magazine, among other publications. She is a graduate of Columbia University.
