The Vanishing of Katharina Linden: A Novel [Deckle Edge] [Hardcover]

Helen Grant (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 10, 2010

 
Not since The Elegance of the Hedgehog has a book arrived in America from Europe on such wings of critical praise and popularity. The Vanishing of Katharina Linden is an unforgettable debut—at once chilling and endearing, haunting and richly insightful—the story of one girl’s big heart and even bigger imagination, and of a world full of mystery, good, and evil.
 
It isn’t ten-year-old Pia’s fault that her grandmother dies in a freak accident. But tell that to the citizens of Pia’s little German hometown of Bad Münstereifel, or to the classmates who shun her. The only one who still wants to be her friend is StinkStefan, the most unpopular child in school.

But then something else captures the community’s attention: the vanishing of Katharina Linden. Katharina was last seen on a float in a parade, dressed as Snow White. Then, like a character in a Grimm’s fairy tale, she disappears. But, this being real life, she doesn’t return.

Pia and Stefan suspect that Katharina has been spirited away by the supernatural. Their investigation is inspired by the instructive—and cautionary—local legends told to them by their elderly friend Herr Schiller, tales such as that of Unshockable Hans, visited by witches in the form of cats, or of the knight whose son is doomed to hunt forever.

Then another girl disappears, and Pia is plunged into a new and unnerving place, one far away from fairy tales—and perilously close to adulthood.

Marvelously morbid, stunningly suspenseful, and exceptionally winning, The Vanishing of Katharina Linden is a new coming-of-age classic, and the most accomplished fiction debut in years.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Helen Grant on The Vanishing of Katharina Linden

I’m often asked “What inspired you to write The Vanishing of Katharina Linden?” I never get tired of this particular question, because it’s a subject that lies very close to my heart. The book was inspired by the little town of Bad Münstereifel in Germany. It’s the setting of The Vanishing of Katharina Linden, and it’s not a fictional place-–it’s a real town, and we lived there for seven wonderful years.

When we moved to Bad Münstereifel in 2001 my husband was anxious that I would be bored. “You can walk from one end of the town to the other in about two minutes,” he said. Actually I found Bad Münstereifel the most fascinating place. It is like stepping into the past. There are cobbled streets and old half-timbered houses, beautiful old churches and creepy castles. I’ve always loved folk tales and legends, and Bad Münstereifel has lots of those. The stories which Herr Schiller tells to Pia (the heroine) in the book are all genuine Bad Münstereifel folk tales. They were collected and published around 1910 by a local priest called Father Krause. I came across some of the stories in anthologies and went to read the originals at a library in Düren. They were written in old-fashioned German and printed in the Gothic type that was very popular in Germany at that time, which made it extremely difficult to read them! But I persevered because it was such an amazing journey of discovery for me. There was one particular character who really stood out, and that was “Unshockable Hans”, the miller who was not afraid of anything, even witches and ghosts. There are a number of stories about him. He seemed to represent the spirit of the town–-forthright, God-fearing and intrepid. I wanted him to be a central character in my book. I liked the idea that the heroine, Pia, would be inspired by his bravery to do her own investigations into the disappearances in her home town.

People sometimes ask me about the ending of the book, as it isn’t entirely a happy one for Pia, given her family situation. I think this reflects my own feelings about having to leave Bad Münstereifel. I loved living there so much, but I always knew that one day we would have to leave. That sadness is part of my love for the town, and Pia’s too. I’d like to think that The Vanishing of Katharina Linden is a memorial to a wonderful place and time in my life.

(Photo © Gordon Grant and William Bond)

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From Publishers Weekly

It may seem strange to describe Grant's debut as a charming horror novel, but there's a determined amiableness about the narrative that will appeal to readers who wouldn't typically be drawn to such subject matter. It's December 1998, and 10-year-old Pia Kolvenbach and her family are living happily in the quaint German town where her father grew up, until Pia's grandmother accidentally sets herself on fire and burns to death. A rumor erupts that her grandmother exploded, and, overnight, Pia becomes an outcast. Her only friend from then on is the most unpopular boy in her class, nicknamed StinkStefan. The two of them begin visiting an elderly man who entertains them with ghost stories from local folklore that Pia and StinkStefan hope might help them solve the decades-old mystery of a number of local girls who have gone missing. The story's richness isn't as much in the mystery plot as it is in the finely rendered background, where desperate parents strive to protect their children in an uncertain world, though the simplicity of the narration makes the novel feel lighter than probably intended. (Aug.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 304 pages
• Publisher: Delacorte Press; 1 edition (August 10, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0385344171
• ISBN-13: 978-0385344173
• Product Dimensions: 5.8 x 1.2 x 8.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.5 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (43 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #760,475 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Helen Grant was born in London, England. She read Classics at St.Hugh's College, Oxford, and then worked for ten years in Marketing to fund her love of travelling. In 2001 she and her family moved to Bad Münstereifel in Germany and it was exploring the legends of this beautiful town that inspired her to write her first novel. She now lives in Brussels with her husband, two children and two cats.

Helen's debut novel "The Vanishing of Katharina Linden" was shortlisted for the prestigious British fiction award, the CILIP Carnegie Medal 2010 and won an ALA Alex Award 2011. Helen's second novel "The Glass Demon" is being published in the US in June 2011 by Delacorte Press.

Visit Helen's website and read her blog at: http://www.helengrantbooks.com/ or follow her on Twitter at @helengrantsays

You can also see book trailers and short location films on Helen's YouTube channel at: http://www.youtube.com/user/helengrantsays

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

19 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars good book with a sinister atmosphere, June 10, 2010

By 

Sonja (East Coast, USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Vanishing of Katharina Linden: A Novel (Hardcover)

(What's this?)

I was drawn to this book because of the editorial reviews proclaiming it to be a "modern fairy tale" and that it would "make the Brothers Grimm jealous." I minored in folklore in college, so those topics were right up my alley. Now, I know that the Brothers Grimm are pretty dark, especially the original versions of their tales. But I guess I'd blocked that out or I thought this book would be toned down in the same way that modern versions of the Brothers Grimm fairy tales are toned down. So I was surprised with just how dark and sinister the tales were in this novel, and many tales are presented through the device of the book's narrator, Pia, going to an older citizen of the town, Herr Schiller, to hear "stories about the town's history" which are really folktales ala the Brothers Grimm (just to be clear, these are *not* the Brothers Grimm folktales but rather folktales in the same vein).

As one can gather from the title of the book, early on a girl by the name of Katharina Linden "vanishes" which leads Pia to wonder if something supernatural happened to Katharina like the things that happen in the stories Herr Schiller tells. Combining the dark stories of witches and demons exacting revenge on townspeople in the days of yore with the very real terror that the parents in the present day town were feeling, scared their child might be next, was quite effective. I tend to read before I go to sleep at night, and when I got to the end of this novel around midnight last night (I couldn't put it down until I finished), the prospect of going straight to sleep was ridiculous. I had to get out of bed, go downstairs and watch a sitcom for half an hour before sleep seemed possible.

It was definitely a good book, and for anyone who likes books that get under your skin and spook you, you can't go wrong with this one. I'd also consider it to be one of those rare books that both adults and children can enjoy, perhaps equally, although I would be hesitant letting a very young child read it. I'd say for ages 12 and up.

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A very good first offering from a promising author, August 12, 2010

By 

Bluestalking Reader "Bluestalking Reader" (Chicago, IL USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Vanishing of Katharina Linden: A Novel (Hardcover)

"My life might have been different, had I not been known as the girl whose grandmother exploded."

- The Vanishing of Katharina Linden


Fairy tales, despite their intent, are not very well suited to children. Sending a tot off to sleep with images of witches throwing children into an oven, to make them the centerpiece of her dining room table, aren't really conducive to a good night's sleep.

And by good night's sleep I mean not waking up screaming in terror.

Helen Grant builds the framework of her delightful first novel around fairy tales, or rather local legends, surrounding the town of Bad Münstereifel, Germany. After the loss of her paternal grandmother to spontaneous combustion, young Pia Kolvenbach develops an image problem. Previously a happy girl with an adequate number of friends, after the unfortunate demise of her grandmother the local children do what children do best: they ostracize her to the point of complete misery.

Only a boy known as "StinkStefan" befriends her. Though it's essentially social suicide to hang out with Stefan, Pia doesn't have a whole lot of choice. Soon the two become friends, hanging out together and regularly visiting a charming elderly man, Herr Schiller, who regaled them with wild tales just frightening enough to be interesting.

The one person in Bad Münstereifel who wasn't fond of Herr Schiller was Herr Düster, the local eccentric who was everything Herr Schiller wasn't. Unfriendly and unkempt, he was universally reviled in the village. A virtual recluse, he spent most of his time hiding away in his tumble-down house, across the street from Herr Schiller.

Soon something horrible began happening in this normally quiet and uneventful village, something that eclipsed even Pia's grandmother's unusual death. Young girls in the village began disappearing, the first being Katharina Linden, who disappeared during "Karneval," a time when all the villagers dressed in costume. Pia's last memory of the girl was seeing her dressed as Snow White, standing beside the fountain:

"When she vanished, it almost seemed like something from a fairy tale, as though she were one of Grimms' twelve dancing princesses, who somehow got out of a locked bedroom every night and came home in the morning with their shoes worn to flinders. But Katharina never came home at all."

As girl after girl disappeared, Pia's English mother vehemently insisted the family move to England and away from the danger. Her father refused, his job and livelihood keeping him in Germany. Pia began retreating to the welcoming warmth of Herr Schiller's, Stefan in tow, to get away from the building tension in her house. Hearing the old man's stories of mysterious happenings, the children's minds turned to the possibility of solving the crime themselves, becoming heroes in the process.

As more girls disappeared, the tension in the town grew. Neighbors became suspicious of each other, paranoia and fear turning the once quiet village into a place filled with mistrust. And the more frequent the kidnappings, the more Pia's parents flew at each other's throats. The village, and Pia's family, was falling apart. And the worst was yet to come.

Grant's writing style is polished, her ability to create diverse characters well-refined. Such assured prose in a first novel is an impressive achievement.

The downside is I was a bit confused for what audience the book was written. Adult readers who also enjoy young adult fiction would probably find it a worthwhile read. But younger teens (the ages of the main characters), for whom the plot would also be appropriately thrilling, would need to be mature enough to handle the occasional f-bombs that seem to explode out of nowhere. While not a prude by any stretch, the casual use of extreme swears would keep me from handing the book to my own 13 year old son. And my older teens - 15 and 16 - would probably be bored by the subject matter and characters younger than themselves, with whom they can't as easily relate.

So, who does that leave? Adults like myself who enjoy twists on the fairy tale, fantasy mixed with thrilling components: readers who enjoyed Harry Potter, the Hunger Games series, as well as Tunnels. A somewhat limited reading audience, maybe, but Helen Grant's prose is so well written I'm looking forward to her next book, The Glass Demon, due out next year.

My final verdict is The Vanishing of Katharina Linden is a smart page turner, a good effort at translating the fairy tale into a modern setting. While still a bit iffy as to its audience, I thoroughly enjoyed it.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars The Vanishing..., June 6, 2010

By 

Ryan Kelley "Professional Shark Tamer" (Cleveland, Ohio) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Vanishing of Katharina Linden: A Novel (Hardcover)

(What's this?)

Young girls are mysteriously vanishing in a small German town. Ten year old Pia and her friend Stephen try to solve the mystery and they find out that similar disappearances have occurred before. While the police look only to physical evidence Pia finds herself entwined with the local storyteller to see if the answers she seeks to the disappearances lean more towards the supernatural.

The Vanishing of Katharina Linden was an interesting novel and probably the first I have read that was set in a semi (1998) modern day Germany. I liked the small-town atmospheric details that the author gave us. The characters were all fairly interesting-Especially Herr Schiller.I didn't really find the main character of Pia very engrossing though. She seemed a little dull and I found myself favoring her friend StinkSteffan more.

I also found the ending of the story to have wrapped itself up a little too cleanly and in such an obvious way that I actually KNEW what was going to happen before it did. I just wasn't really surprised or shocked at all with any of the events that unfolded throughout the book. I did like the author's descriptions and felt that the story could have really taken off for me if the main character was a little more vivacious or vivid. She just fell flat for me and that caused the bulk of the story to drag for me.

Overall, it was an OK book though. I didn't love it, but I didn't hate it.