Flight of Ashes

Single mother Josefa Nadler is a journalist at the government-run Illustrated Weekly in East Berlin. One day Josefa is sent to B., an industrial city, to write a routine monthly profile of a hardworking comrade. There she finds horrific working conditions, dying trees, scarred workers and a mission she cannot refuse. Instead of writing the expected puffery, Josefa records and submits the true story. Everyone, from her superior to the comrade-in-charge, tries to compel her to change the article. What ensues is a poignant tale of a woman's battle to be herselfimpatient, honest, emotional and a dreamer like her peasant grandfatherin a society where people think and move like robots. In light of recent events at Chernobyl, this is an especially timely novel, right up to the ironic twist at the end. (October)