Kuraj

I kuraj sono i cespugli secchi che il grande vento della steppa fa rotolare lontano e, quando si muovono, sembra che sia tutta la pianura a muoversi, a spostarsi. Così li vedono i tunciàn, nomadi discendenti di Gengis Khan, che conoscono i sortilegi della natura e al vento tributano sacro rispetto. Anche la piccola Naja viene sospinta dalle steppe dell'Uzbekistan alla Germania del dopoguerra come da un vento fatale. Suo padre, Ul'an, l'ha affidata all'ufficiale tedesco Gunter Berger con il quale ha combattuto, insieme a molti altri nomadi convinti di avere uno stesso nemico, la Russia di Stalin. Naja deve integrarsi in una nuova famiglia e in una nuova società, entrambe faticose e incomprensibili. La memoria del suo popolo la difende, la protegge ma, quando la vita la incalza, è capace di lottare, di cambiare, di crescere. Alla voce narrante di Naja è affidato il racconto delle sue peripezie di bambina e di donna alla ricerca di un posto nel mondo, ma anche del mitico passato dei tunciàn, nonché la memorabile ricostruzione corale della disfatta tedesca in Russia. Dominando con sapienza una mole straordinaria di eventi, di personaggi, di vite che si intrecciano l'una con l'altra, Silvia Di Natale scrive un romanzo che parla di guerra e di pace, di popoli ed eserciti in fuga, di uomini spazzati via dalle tempeste della Storia, di sentimenti che resistono, di tanti uomini e donne che non dimenticano. E che non si dimenticano. Born in the late 1930s on the Central Asian steppe, Naja is the daughter of a clan chieftain of the Tushan nomads, proud descendants of Genghis Khan. When her fiercely independent father, U'lan, hears of Stalin's plan to bring the Tushan under state control and make them settle permanently in collective farms, he pledges to join forces with the invading German army. It is a pledge of honor that will take her father to the hell of Stalingrad and change Naja's life forever by eventually bringing her, at the age of nine, to ruined postwar Cologne. From there she must learn to adapt to a strange new culture, and to the strange family that has taken her in. But as Naja gradually grows more comfortable in this alien world, the memories of her young life on the steppe call out to her. She begins a difficult search for her past-and the past of her people-with only the word kuraj (Tushan for tumbleweed) as her talisman and guide. Silvia di Natale was born in Genoa in 1951 and moved to Germany in 1973, where she lives with her husband and son. She teaches and works as an ethnosociologist. Kuraj is her first novel.'An extraordinary epic of emigration, capture, ruin, flight and return-a revelation.'-Corriere della Sera'Extraordinary and gripping.'-Repubblica An epic and moving historical novel about a nomadic girl's search for home. Born in the late 1930s on the Central Asian steppe, Naja is the daughter of a clan chieftain of the Tushan nomads, proud descendants of Genghis Khan. When her fiercely independent father, U'lan, hears of Stalin's plan to bring the Tushan under state control and make them settle permanently in collective farms, he pledges to join forces with the invading German army. It is a pledge of honor that will take her father to the hell of Stalingrad and change Naja's life forever by eventually bringing her, at the age of nine, to ruined postwar Cologne. From there she must learn to adapt to a strange new culture, and to the strange family that has taken her in. But as Naja gradually grows more comfortable in this alien world, the memories of her young life on the steppe call out to her. She begins a difficult search for her pastand the past of her peoplewith only the word kuraj (Tushan for tumbleweed) as her talisman and guide. "Born in the late 1930s on the Central Asian steppe, Naja is the daughter of a clan chieftain of the Tushan nomads, proud descendants of Genghis Khan. When her fiercely independent father, U'lan, hears of Stalin's plan to bring the Tushan under state control and make them settle permanently in collective farms, he vows to join forces with the invading German army. It is a pledge of honor that will take her father to the hell of Stalingrad and change Naja's life forever by eventually bringing her, at the age of nine, to ruined postwar Cologne." "From there she must learn to adapt to a strange new culture, and to the strange family that has taken her in. But as Naja gradually grows more comfortable in this alien world, the memories of her young life on the steppe call out to her. She begins a difficult search for her past - and the past of her people - with only the word kuraj (Tushan for tumbleweed) as her talisman and guide."--BOOK JACKET