Cirrus@Austlit

'Past Life is a novel that weaves several narratives together to create an expanded view of the generational trauma that comes from war. The novel is separated into two parts. Part 1 opens with Anna, a refugee from Russia who came to Australia with her adopted mother. Anna soon discovers a passion for photography; that passion leads us to an orchard where an old man lives in a shed on the property. Friedrich is also a Russian refugee, once an infamous Russian writer forced to translate for the Germans during the war. He shoots himself soon after meeting Anna and leaves behind a letter; while the novel never lets the reader finish reading the letter, we intuit that he is Anna's birth father. The novel then moves to a chapter centered on Julia, Anna's birth mother, who does not survive the war.' (Introduction)