review
This book is a curiosity. Irene Coffee is in exile in London, fleeing from the persecution of Jews in her hometown of Dresden. After making a suicide pact with her mother, Irene survives but her mother does not, and Irene suddenly finds herself on trial at the Old Bailey, charged with her mother’s murder. Sentenced to death but granted a royal pardon, Irene has a second chance at happiness, but – in another thought-provoking twist – does take her own life years later in Australia. Drawing together the three strands of judicial history, ongoing debates on assisted suicide, the war-time experience of Jewish refugees in London and Coffee’s own life-story, Hannusch has produced an original work that will intrigue and provoke with equal force.
All recommendations from Spring 2012