reading recommendations: oliver pötzsch

This year, I am committing myself to reading as many books as I can- to immerse myself in the heaven that is a well written book. If you're like me, and you love a book that is a little bit of a challenge to read, a little bit of a stomach-turner, then man-oh-man do I have a recommendation for you.

I finished Oliver Pötzsch's The Hangman's Daughter two nights ago and am so thrilled I read it. It is, by far, my favorite book I've read this year, and that includes Water for Elephants.

Pötzsch's story is about his ancestors, the Kuisl family. The Kuisl family made their name being executioners, skilled in the "art" of killing people, torturing them and making them confess. The story itself is set in the late 1600's in what would be come Bavaria, and is a brilliant blend of intrigue, superstition, misdirection, the dichotomy between the old and the young and even a little romance.

It is absolutely brilliant.

Without giving too much away, the Hangman of Schongau is thrust into a hard position when a family friend is arrested and accused of witchcraft after one of the local boys is dragged out of the river with his head bashed in and a strange mark on his shoulder. As more children start to fall victim to the unseen devil, and people start calling for blood, the Hangman Kuisl and the young local physician Simon set out to discover who is responsible for the children's murders and why.

I will say, there was a chapter (it's hard to talk about the book without giving a lot away) where the devil is pursuing a little girl and the whole time I was reading that particular section, I felt sick to my stomach. I think it's a tribute to Pötzsch's fantastic writing and the amazing job that the translator did in capturing the tone of the original words. Oh, did I mention that Pötzsch is German and the novel had to be translated into English? No? Well, there you go.

I highly, highly, highly recommend this book. It's not light reading, it can get a little depressing (hello, children are being murdered! women are being tortured! men are wearing tights!) but in the e-n-d... oh, so worth the heart pitter patters and the stomach turns.

Let me know if you pick it up- I'm eager to hear what others think!



p.s. I don't mean it's hard to read because the writing bogs down- I mean the content can be hard to read.

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