Bosnia 1886 to 1912

at the time of the Austro-Hungarian occupation

Maria grows up with five brothers in a German-Protestant village in the Bosnian borderland to Serbia. Her childhood is marked by her strict parental home, the struggle for education and the struggle for friendship. But all her dreams are shattered on "Water Day," November 11, 1896, when the Drina floods the village, destroying their home and taking the twelve-year-old girl's mother. At the age of fifteen, she escapes from the confinement and the harsh hand of her father with the railwayman Franz. She lets herself be "kidnapped" by him, marries him and is disowned by her father. She moves with Franz all the way to Sarajevo, experiences concord and violence in their marriage and in the multi-confessional, multi-ethnic state of Bosnia-Herzegovina. Hoping for a better life, Maria finally leaves for Hamburg with her husband and two of her children. During the train ride, she looks back on her life so far. Elisabeth Schneider tells in clear, sensitive language how the courageous girl, later the wise woman, tries to break free from the shackles of church and society. The moving story of Mary's life raises the question of whether all this could really have happened only at that time.

Voices on Nach dem Wassertag and Elisabeth Schneider:

Carefully researched page by page and superbly told: The story of a woman fighting for her right to education and a life of her own. More than 100 years ago in Bosnia-Herzegovina - that seems far away and yet is oppressively close to us. Rarely have I learned so much from an exciting novel.

- Irene Stratenwerth, author, journalist, curator

Further Information

Author: Elisabeth Schneider